Darlington woman celebrates 102nd birthday

2:44pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News By Joanna Morris

Edith Lawson Edith Lawson

A DARLINGTON woman is celebrating after reaching her 102nd birthday yesterday (Tuesday March 12).

Edith Lawson, who lives in the town’s Rydal Care Home, puts her long life down to staying teetotal and never smoking.

Staff at the home celebrated the popular resident’s birthday by baking her a special cake and gathering in her room to sing happy birthday.

Care assistant Maria Durkin described Mrs Lawson as “delightful”. She said: “Edith always gives me a lovely chuckle when I say hello to her on a morning.”

Michael Moralee, personal activity leader, said: “Edith is a dear old lady, you can spend all day with her and not get bored.”

Proud of her North East roots, Mrs Lawson – who was born in Darlington in 1911 – never strayed far from her home town, believing everything she needed was close at hand.

She had three children with husband Francis James Lawson and is now a proud grandmother of eight.

Mrs Lawson last year defied her advanced age and impressed staff at her care home by winning the internet surfing game at the home’s summer fete.

Comments(1)

stevegg says...
5:56pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Well within living memory to reach the age of 100 was a rareity only achieved by a tiny percentage of the population. Thanks to medical advances since the second world war life expectancy has shot up and along with it an ever increasing number of elderly people hitting a 100 in record numbers (mainly women), this is now perceived as average. But what about the huge numbers who live well into their 80's and 90's in their hundreds of thousands and probably soon millions? With global population explosion, dwindling natural resources and competition for space and farmland, This is all going to have huge consequences on the welfare state and NHS which all has to be funded by taxes by future generations. I dont know whats coming in decades ahead but Im pretty sure harsh measures will need to be taken if either a natural event or war hasnt reduced the population by a significant amount. Scoff at your peril as todays crop of pensioners who are 60 plus are the lucky ones (although they dont realise it and wont admit it), the future is bleak for all those below 50 if they manage to survive beyond 80!

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