Care home celebrates 100th birthday of resident who once worked on Spitfires
A care home has been celebrating the 100th birthday of one of its residents.
Joyce Clayton was born on March 19, 1924, in a tiny hamlet near Broseley.
One of five children, Joyce attended school in nearby Barrow, before beginning her working life in the nearby factories.
According to her youngest daughter, Ann, 69, Joyce worked on Spitfires during the war.
"Mum said it was a miracle they ever flew!" She added.
Joyce was soon married to Leslie Clayton after they met on a blind date in Blackpool, arranged by their friends.
Whilst being a housewife and all-round "good mum" to Ann and her older sister Marilyn, now 74, Joyce began working as a seamstress.
"She spent the rest of her working life working from home making curtains and chair covers for people," Ann said.
"She had a little singer sewing machine, just an ordinary dress-making one, and she would do covers for three-piece suites. The weight of the fabric, I don't know how she managed to lift it.
"She didn't do any advertising, she just had a really good reputation of being very skilled. I still have a friend now who has curtains made by mum, and she stopped sewing 20 years ago."
Leslie and Joyce enjoyed a happy 50 years of marriage, before his death 25 years ago.
For the last seven years, Joyce - now a great-grandmother to four - has called Cheswardine Hall near Market Drayton home.
Ann said: "It's a beautiful home on beautiful grounds, when we came to look for a care home for mum there wasn't a second thought.
"It's a lovely place, a very relaxing atmosphere.
"Mum obviously has a very strong constitution to have made it this far, it's quite the achievement."
