Birthday joy is on cards for Eileen as she hits 100
A WOMAN celebrating her 100th birthday was overwhelmed with more than 150 cards from across the globe after care home staff put out an appeal.
Eileen Goddard was deluged with birthday cards which came from as far afield as Canada, Minnesota in the USA and Australia, as well as Huddersfield, Dover, Leeds, York and Middlesbrough.
Staff at Aden View Care
Home in Primrose Hill, Huddersfield, had been hoping to get 100 teddy bear themed cards but were delighted when over 150 cards turned up, alongside teddy bears, a Body Shop pamper hamper and bouquets of flowers.
Eileen is known at the home for being “obsessed with teddy bears,” with her often seen giving them drinks and rocking them to sleep. One card contained a scratch card, another had money and a note telling Eileen to have a drink on the sender and another had a teddy bear coaster enclosed. Staff at the home clubbed together to buy Eileen a tiara and sash to wear on her birthday as well as cotton handkerchiefs.
Eileen celebrated her big day with a ‘social distancing’ party in the home with fellow residents and staff. Her family also visited the home, remaining outside due to restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
She said: “I can’t believe all of this is for me, thank you. I feel like I am 21 again. I feel like the Queen herself.”
Eileen was born in Leeds on 5th June 1920 - a year-and-a-half after the end of the First World War, with the country still recovering in the aftermath of the conflict. She was a secretary before the outbreak of the Second World War and then she worked in the fuel rationing office.
After the war, Eileen married John Goddard, who she met when visiting Kildwick Hall, North Yorkshire, for lunch with her family. John was playing the grand piano there and the pair caught each others’ eyes in the crowd.
Eileen said: “I feel very lucky to have gone for lunch at the hotel and met the love of my life playing a grand piano.”
The pair married in 1949 and had their only child, Pauline, two years later. As a family, they enjoyed travelling together, climbing mountains and spending weekends on various boats they owned over the years. They lived in Ingleton, Scarborough and Keighley, before John passed away and Eileen settled in Huddersfield. She moved into Aden View Care Home in February 2015.
Kimberley Mckay, home manager at Aden View Care Home, said: “Eileen was overwhelmed with the generosity she received on her birthday and couldn’t believe that everything was for her. She got very emotional when she opened the card from the Queen.
“The response we received to her birthday card appeal was fantastic. We were all amazed to see cards start coming in from around the country and from abroad. We can’t thank everyone enough for sending cards and gifts - especially the teddy bears.
“Eileen is obsessed with teddy bears - she tucks them in at night, gives them drinks and rocks them - so when she started receiving teddy bear cards and soft toys in the post she was thrilled. It was a very special occasion enjoyed by everyone at the home.”