Violet celebrates her 109th birthday to become 33rd oldest person in UK

 

 

The oldest person in Lincolnshire and thought to be 33rd oldest in the country, Violet was born and brought up in the town.

 

She lived independently until three years ago when she moved into Ashwood Nursing Home, in Spalding Common.

 

Mini Shaju, senior carer, said: “She’s a really wonderful lady, I can’t believe she does the things she does for a lady of her age.

 

“She can be sleepy some days but at other times is very chatty and asks after the staff and their families.

 

“Until a few months ago she still read the newspapers and kept up with world events. She can sing very well too!”

 

In fact, Violet spent last weekend singing and reminding staff and residents it was her birthday this week.

 

Born in Sutterton in 1908, the third child of a family of four sisters and a brother, Violet worked at Pennington’s,  Spalding, before moving to Birmingham as a beautician at Marshall and Snelgroves.

 

In the thirties she moved to London to work for Elizabeth Arden as a beauty specialist advising many influential clients.

 

Violet was married to Hubert in 1938 and, though they would have liked to have had a family, that was not to be. At the outbreak of war Elizabeth Arden, herself, offered Violet a job in America but she chose to stay in London.

 

As well as her day job working as a PA to Christopher Hinton, (Baron Hinton of Bankside) in the Ministry of Supply she was regularly to be found fire-watching on the roofs of the capital. After the war Violet, her husband and two dogs moved to Oxfordshire where he became the head of a school in a large hospital.

 

They enjoyed a busy social life, entertaining friends and Violet enjoyed cooking, antiques, painting and tapestry work.

 

Sadly, soon after his retirement in 1975, her husband died and, having too large a property to look after on her own, she moved back to Lincolnshire, sharing a house in Osbournby with her also widowed sister, May, and getting fully involved in village life including the WI.

 

After the death of her sister she moved back to Spalding where she lived independently until 2014.