Five generations of a family came together today to celebrate a 100th birthday party.
Croesyceiliog resident Jacqueline Davies was born in Newbridge on 23 June 1923 and had a party in the White Hut with her family travelling from as far as Scotland and Birmingham.
She told Cwmbran Life: “I feel all right. I feel like I was a year ago” and added that it was “lovely” to see so many of her family had come to Cwmbran for the party.
I asked what was the secret of reaching 100 and she said: “I don’t know. I mean I never drink and I never smoke so whether that helped me I don’t know.”
Denise Griffiths, her daughter, said: “She was a forklift truck driver in Rogerstone steelworks during World War II. She used to take the scrap metal to the furnace. She ran over this man’s foot and he said ‘oh Sarah’. And she said ‘my name’s not Sarah. My name is Jacqueline.'” That was how she met Les Wilson, who became her first husband. She later married Viv Davies.
She has two daughters and one son, and her family has grown to five generations with her being the great-great-grandmother to two girls and one boy.
Rachael Williams, one her grandchildren, said: “She’s the best thing ever. She’s the fittest thing ever. She is going to outlive all of us. She’s solid and has been through it all. There is just no stopping here, she broke her hip and within four to six weeks she had it replaced, had physio, and moved back home.”
Her dad was a miner and during the General Strike he walked to Birmingham for job and moved his family there. Following the outbreak of WWII, Jacqueline moved back to Wales as the city was being bombed.
She was part of a large family, with ten brothers and three sisters, and is the last surviving sibling.
Photos from Jacqueline’s 100th birthday party
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