'Royal' celebration for Margaret's 100th birthday (From Falmouth Packet)

'Royal' celebration for Margaret's 100th birthday

11:24am Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News

A pair of Beefeaters and “royalty” made a special appearance as Margaret Culling celebrated her 100th birthday in Falmouth last week.

After enjoying a three-course meal surrounded by friends and family at Denyer Court, the special guests, who were in fact her son and daughter-in-law, David and Sarah Culling, and “Queen” Jan Oliver, support advisor at the housing complex, arrived to a fanfare.

They presented Margaret with her birthday card from the real Queen Elizabeth II which had arrived from Buckingham Palace.

Not surprisingly, Margaret is Denyer Court’s oldest resident but maybe more surprisingly, she is still a keen follower of tennis, Strictly Come Dancing and Formula One and regularly watches Question Time.

Despite chronic arthritis, and with the help of her personal carers, Margaret recently attended an introduction to computers course and participates in various in-house social activities.

The youngest of three children, Margaret was born in Leicester in 1913 and went on to become a seamstress in Stavely, Derbyshire.

It was here she married Mansell in 1936, but the couple spent their early married life in Sheffield before moving to Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield during and after the Second World War.

The couple moved to Cornwall in 1978.

Speaking at her party, Margaret said: “This is absolutely wonderful, I had no idea. It’s fantastic, I can’t believe it.”