100 YEARS YOUNG
NOTHING CAN STOP NETTE’S PARTY:
A pensioner was given the gift of time with her family as she celebrated her 100th birthday in a Bishopton care home.
Janet McSherry marked her centenary year with a visit from her family to Erskine Park Care Home, which organised a socially distant party for their first ever resident to reach the milestone.
Janet - known as Nette - was able to see and speak to her children and grandchildren through a window of the home as she opened a telegram from the Queen on Monday.
Her daughter Janet McGhee, son William McSherry and granddaughters Tracy Anderson, Janet Sloan and Marian Wilson waved, blew kisses and spoke to Janet through the glass.
The family toasted her birthday was a glass of fizz laid out on a garden party table created especially for the occasion.
It was the first time they had seen their beloved mother and grandmother in weeks as the coronavirus pandemic ended their regular visits to the veterans’ facility.
Daughter Janet told the Express care home staff had created the perfect day for a woman who has “always lived for her family”.
“They brought mum down to the front and said we could go up and celebrate with her,” Janet said. “We had a table outside. “There was cake, a piper and photographer.
“Lyndsey who works at the home, it was her day off but she came in and did her hair and make up. The staff were marvellous, they made it really, really special.”
The home was also decorated inside and fellow residents were able to celebrate with Nette in the sun room of the building while remaining two metres apart.
Jacqueline Campbell, acting home manager at Erskine Park said: “Everyone at Erskine Park had a great time celebrating Nette’s 100 birthday.
“It is not only special for Nette and her family but also for the home as she is the first ever resident to celebrate such a momentous birthday with us.”
Nette moved into Erskine Park in November last year as it was close to her two children, five granddaughters and eight great grandchildren, all of whom visited the facility regularly before the coronavirus outbreak.
Janet said: “A couple of times before coronavirus got really serious, staff brought mum to the front so we could see her.
“When it got more serious even that stopped so it had been five weeks since we had seen her.
“I’m dying to give her a cuddle, a kiss, to have a cup of tea with her. It’s the human contact and interaction we miss.”
She added: “Mum has always been a family-lady. She loves her family. As long as they were OK, she was OK.
“We used to go to Arran as kids, later in life it was places like Spain and Canada, she loved to holiday with the family and enjoyed the grandkids.”
Nette grew up in Glasgow where she met her husband Terrance who was in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
They were married for 64 years before he passed away in 2004.