An Upper Eden woman has made the remarkable achievement of celebrating her 101st birthday, putting her in the oldest 0.01 per cent of the UK’s population.
Dorothy Greenlees was born on October 14 1920 in Kirkby Stephen, where she still lives today in Christian Head Care home.
Unfazed by the occasion Dorothy said “It doesn’t feel very different to being 100.”
The centenarian is Kirkby through and through, having attended the local grammar school and even met her future husband Alexander while working in a café in Market Square.
During World War Two the budding romance was paused as Alec went to serve in Burma and Dorothy was posted to a factory in Blackpool to aid in the war effort. On her sweetheart’s return they were married in the town in 1946.
Dorothy then reluctantly moved to Newbiggin-on-Lune to raise a family. Coming to like the village, her two daughters Margaret Wilson and Joan Richardson still live locally.
While she said she did not have a secret to her longevity, her daughter Margaret, put it down to her mother’s good sense of humour.
For now, Dorothy said she was looking forward to seeing her five young great-grandchildren who she has not been able to see regularly due to the pandemic.
