Mayor joins 100-year-old at Haywards Heath birthday celebrations

Kath loved all the beautiful flowers she received including a bouquet of flowers from the Town Council, presented to her by the Mayor and she was exceptionally excited to see the special birthday cake made by the chef at Russeting’s Care Home as everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.

Town Mayor, Cllr Stephanie Inglesfield commented: “It was wonderful to see Kath celebrating her 100th birthday with family, friends and staff from this lovely care home.

“Kath has had an amazing life. Moving to the UK from Ireland when she was only 3 following the death of her father, Kath worked during the war making nuts and bolts for fighter planes and was a volunteer air raid warden. After the war she met Len on the day he was demobbed from the army and they married in 1947. By 1952 they were exploring Europe and travelling to Rome on Len’s motorbike. Then in 1957 they had the opportunity to move out of London to Mid Sussex where they stayed raising a family. Len died in 1990 and Kath carried on and explored her new life alone, remaining independent until moving into Russeting’s just over five years ago.

"She really had such a lovely day and it was obvious that the staff in Russeting’s beautiful care home take such great care of her. I felt very honoured to be part of such a special celebration.”

Kath’s son David paid tribute to his mother and to the wonderful staff at the care home, saying: “Russeting’s really is a special place for my mum, knowing she is so well looked after and enjoys all the fun activities in such a beautiful setting means the world to us. Three sentences to describe my mum on her special day:• totally independent• loving and loved - she was liked by everyone she met• VERY busy and hardworking - she never liked sitting aroundThank you to the Mayor of Haywards Heath for joining us happy 100th birthday mum.”