Molly, 100, turns down Queen but not mayor!

SPECIAL visitors helped Molly Barnes celebrate her 100th birthday with friends and family.

Mayor and Mayoress Granville and Susan Morris presented Molly, of Rawtenstall, with a card and flowers to wish her a happy 100th birthday, on behalf of themselves and Rossendale council.

It came as a surprise for the former machinist after she turned down the Queen’s 100th birthday wishes as she said she didn’t want to ‘make a fuss’!

Her 81-year-old niece Pat Hutchinson organised the surprise visit to Molly’s home.

Pat said: “I was absolutely staggered when she turned the card from the Queen down. She said ‘I don’t want any fuss’.

“Molly is 100 years young – as she used to say ‘she’s got all her chairs at home’. But I knew she’d secretly like it if the Mayor came.”

Molly, who reached three figures on November 17, hit the headlines earlier this year when we revealed that a 20-year-old balloon given to her on her 80th birthday was still going strong.

And Pat added: “The balloon is still inflated, it’s sagging a little bit now but it’s not gone down. It’s amazing how long it’s lasted!”

Molly, who worked at Haslingden Slipper Works until the age of 60, has spent her whole life in Haslingden and Rawtenstall, but has lived on her own since her grocer husband Richard passed away, aged 70. Her only daughter Andrea Wood, sadly passed away at aged just 42 due to a brain tumour.

Pat added: “She’s had sadness in her life but ●● Molly Barnes with the Mayor and Mayoress and with her 20-year-old balloon she’s very adventurous - she went on her last cruise aged 85 around the Mediterranean.

“She used to go dancing at the Astoria in Rawtenstall and the Con Club in Accrington with Richard. They were really good dancers the pair of them.

“She told me that on that cruise a Chinese man asked her to dance with him because she was such a good dancer.

“When she was 60 she started doing yoga and that’s kept her really quite fit and she still does one or two things now.

“Molly does have a lot of friends and she’s had a very full life. She’s a gem.”