100th birthday treat for gran
AVALLEY greatgrandmother celebrated her 100th birthday by meeting both of her great-grandchildren for the first time.
Relatives from Berkshire and Hampshire travelled to Rossendale to join Joan Goodman as she celebrated her special day at Holme Manor Care Home, in Townsendfold, Rawtenstall.
On the day, there were four generations present: Joan, daughter Karen and her husband Martin Coles, her sons Adrian Percival and his wife Agata and their son Leo, two years, nine months old; and Henry Percival and his fiancée Marzia Del Grosso along with their son five-month-old Noah.
Joan met and chatted to her relatives in the home’s specially constructed Covid pod, which was decorated with birthday balloons, lots of flowers and a large cake,
and she was introduced to the newest members of the family Leo and Noah.
Later, they all enjoyed a buffet at the home.
Joan, formerly of Haslingden Old Road, said: “I have had a very nice birthday.”
Karen said: “My mum was born in Waterfoot and had a brother, and my family have lived in Rossendale
since 1670. Her father ran Vale Shoe Company and in the war my mum was an aeronautical engineer and worked on planes.”
She met Peter, from London, who was a bomb aimer on Lancasters, and after the war they married and had daughter Karen.
Karen said: “When I was born, my mum didn’t work after that.
“My father died 11 years ago and my mum lived on her own until she was 96.”
Ryan Godwin, proprietor of Holme Manor, said: “Everyone at Holme Manor is more than delighted to congratulate Mrs Goodman on her birthday.”
Joan was born in the same year that Howard Carter entered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.