Mabel enjoys her special day
A resident of a care home in Bodicote celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday (Wednesday).
Mabel Lawrence was born in 1913 in Whitfield near Brackley, and celebrated the milestone with her family at Fairholme House, where she also received many cards from friends.
She said: “It has been a wonderful day, it is a bit overwhelming with all the cards that I have got but I am very happy and my family are here with me.”
Mrs Lawrence’s earliest memory was at the age of three when she saw a Zeppelin aircraft in the sky above Whitfield.
When she was five, her family moved to a farm near Helmdon and she went to the village school until she was 14.
She then chose to join a singing group in Banbury rather than attend Brackley High School for Girls, and became a pupil of Professor Marshall in Marlborough Road.
Mrs Lawrence said: “I enjoyed singing because I could do it, and went to Belgium with the group for a performance where I sang the lead role.”
On June 11 1938 she married her husband Charles at Helmdon Baptist Chapel and they lived at her family farm at The Grange. Between 1941 and 1945, the couple had four children, Keith, Christine, and twins Graham and Judith.
In 1971, the couple moved to Harrold in Bedfordshire where Charles become pastor of the evangelical church. They lived in a small flat at the back of the church, which was a big change from their five-bedroom farmhouse in Helmdon.
In 1985 they moved to a bungalow in Banbury after Charles retired from the church.
Mabel remained in the home following the death of her husband in 1996 until she had a fall aged 98 and moved into Fairholme House in 2011.
She has ten grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
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Weather for Banbury
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 14 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Thunderstorm
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
