Fifty-five family and very close friends, travelled from far and wide to help Betty Chiplin of Westfield, celebrate her 100th birthday on Sunday, 31st October.

A splendid Afternoon Tea, fittingly presented on vintage china, was enjoyed in the balloon and bannered village hall in Stratton on the Fosse.

Betty’s eldest son Malcolm gave a short resume of her life, highlighting the importance belonging to a church has always been to Betty. Birthday cake was then cut and Betty was toasted with champagne.

Officially, Betty is Anne Elizabeth and was born in Dowlais in the Welsh Valleys to parents Frank and Elizabeth Turner. She was educated locally having her secondary education in Cyfartha Castle. The family moved to Cardiff in 1936 when the Dowlais steel works, where her father worked, opened in Cardiff. The first thing the family did was to find a church and the family settled happily into St German’s Church, Roath. It was there that Betty met her husband to be, Leonard Chiplin, who sang in the choir.

Betty’s first job was as a civil servant for the Welsh Board of Health, but as they would not employ married women Betty had to leave when she married Leonard in 1941.

Betty wasn’t unoccupied for long, as their first child Malcom arrived in 1942 followed fairly quickly by Jennifer, Judith, Gaynor, Huw and Christopher.

When Leonard was demobbed from the RAF after the war he retrained as a teacher and was quickly appointed Deputy Head of a Special School in Leigh on Sea. Then, in 1962, Leonard was offered a headship at Fairfield’s Special School for children with severe learning, communication or physical difficulties. Betty and the family moved to Northampton and as always, the first thing they did was to find a church. They quickly became very active members of Christ Church where Betty was Enrolling Member (Now called Branch Leader) of Mothers’ Union for many years.

When Betty’s youngest son Christopher started at Northampton Grammar School, Betty retrained as a teacher. Her first job was at the Shipman Home, a school for children with special educational needs. When it closed Betty was transferred to Fairfield’s School where Leonard was the Head.

During their married life Betty and Leonard travelled widely, enjoying many European holidays. But sadly these were cut short not long into retirement when Leonard died in 1992. They had been married fifty-one years. With her family scattered all over Southern England and Wales and no-one living nearby, Betty made her last move to Midsomer Norton where her youngest son Christopher had just taken up the position of Vicar at St John’s Church. The draw of four very young grandchildren and a welcoming church made the move after 35 years in Northampton an easy one.

Children have always been a mainstay in Betty’s life and she is proud to have fifteen grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren.

Although now registered blind, Betty still lives in her own home, supported by a live in carer and continues to excel in crossword puzzles, if someone reads the clues. She likes nothing better than a good conversation about past times and when asked the secret to longevity she says a loving family. But a little of what you fancy seems to be doing her good too, with a glass of sherry and chocolates topping the list!