Raise a cup of tea for Sybil’s centenary

15/3/14- 100th birthday celebrations for Sybil Pryce, pictured here with sons Tony and John Stevenson SUS-140315-165230001

Evelyn Sybil Jones was born in Hastings on March 13 1914, the youngest of the four children of Hastings public health inspector Edwin Jones and wife Rose.

Sybil lived in the town until she married Battle farmer George Stevenson in 1940.

Together they farmed at Down Barn Farm, Battle, and subsequently at Banks Farm, Mountfield, when George’s ill-health forced retirement and a move to Warbleton, near Heathfield.

On George’s untimely death in 1972, Sybil returned to live in Mountfield.

In 1981 she married retired merchant navy officer Reg Pryce, with whom she had ten happy years before she was once again widowed.

Sybil is now resident at Saxonwood Residential Home in Battle.

Sybil and George had two sons, John and Tony, both of whom worked in agriculture.

The family now extends to five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

On her birthday Sybil received a congratulatory card from Her Majesty the Queen, of which she is very proud.

A celebration birthday tea party was held at Mountfield Village Hall on Saturday, attended by more than 60 friends and family. Sybil attributes her longevity to “An unshakeable optimistic outlook, a constant happy disposition, and the closeness of family and friends.”