Birthdays don’t come any more special than a 100th so, when mayor of Truro Bob Smith heard that Redannick resident Gladys Brown was celebrating her centenary, he went along with a card.

Gladys, who has early stage dementia, moved to the care home in Truro last year.

She was born in Leicestershire in November 1919 and grew up in Rugby, Warwickshire.  During the war she worked as a secretary at the Rootes Factory near Coventry.  

She married her husband Don in 1956, having first met him whilst playing in the street as children but lost touch when Don moved to another part of Rugby. 

After re-locating to Cornwall in 1972, they lived at Holmbush, St Austell with their family until Don’s death in 1991.

Glady’s daughter, Julia Richards, visits her mother most days.

“Mum lived with me for nine years but now needs the specialist care that Redannick provides,” she said. “It was lovely that the mayor came to visit her – that meant a lot.”

Gladys was one of the Redannick residents who recently travelled to The Eden Project with Cornwall Care staff for an outing on the ice-rink.

“She’s a sociable lady who likes to get out and about,” said Cornwall Care administrator Angie Bray.

“She had a chat with the mayor about the old days – the war, where she used to live and her family of course. His visit made her birthday even more special.”