‘Forever young’ Florence at 105

A STAFFORDSHIRE Moorlands woman celebrated her 105th birthday last week.

Florence Phillips, one of the Moorlands’ oldest citizens, marked her milestone last Thursday, April 28.

Florence, who has regular phone calls from Moorlands Home Link’s befriending service, was presented with flowers by the service manager, Diane Sellers.

She enjoyed a birthday tea with her friend, Pat Keeling, and son, Christopher, topped off by a visit from Leek’s town mayor, Lyn Swindlehurst.

Now classed as a semi supercentenarian, Florence got her second official birthday card from the queen, and she still lives independently at her home in Leek.

The secret of her longevity she puts down to ‘hard work and poverty and plenty of Yorkshire Tea.’

Born in Springfield Road in 1917, Florence went to East Street School and remembers walking down Fountain Street with her mother and seeing Leek’s Monument being built in tribute to those who lost their lives in the war.

She spent her working life in textiles, mainly at Mayers’ Mill in Wellington Street, where she worked as an overlocker. Her only brother, Frank Heath, managed Leek’s Home and Colonial store and died aged 63.

Widowed at the age of 49, Florence became a member of Moorlands Home Link in 2010 after losing many of her friends to old age.

Volunteer Kath Parry-thomas, who has enjoyed chatting to Florence for more than a decade, said: “Florence is amazing. I feel blessed to have such a lovely friend. We laugh, share stories and sometimes sing together. She is forever young.”