Eva’s 100th that lasted two days!

ARUNCORN centenarian marked her 100th birthday with not one but two days of celebration including receiving a card from The Queen.

Eva Ellis, 100, was treated to two surprise get-togethers – on August 28, and the following day as doting daughter Sue Hamilton made sure the milestone was one to remember.

Sue said Eva, who has lived in Runcorn all her life, said the secret to her long and happy life could be linked to her love of music and dancing, healthy food and family life.

Eva has a grandson David and is a great-grandmother to Finn, aged threeand-a-half years, and who “definitely keeps her alert”, Sue said.

Having lived in Runcorn all her life, Eva is the daughter of an Able Shipwrights

worker and she attended Victoria Road School and then attended Balfour Road School leaving at the age of 14.

She worked at Littlemores Bakery and then moved to Maypole.

Eva met her future husband George at a party at his parents’ house, where she had been invited because her employer Maypole made the refreshments.

It was George who opened the door when she arrived.

They courted for a year and George was then called up into the RAF, with whom he served four years in Egypt.

After the war, he returned and their courtship continued for two years before they tied the knot in Halton on June 18, 1947.

They began their married life living with George’s parents and eventually took the chance to buy a quarryman’s cottage on Weston Road after 10 years of vaing heard.

They later had a bungalow built and while work was under way they moved into a house on Heath Road, where in 1958 their daughter Susan was born.

Reflecting fondly on the time and Eva’s secret to happy life, Sue said: “Many happy years were spent in the bungalow and we all enjoyed caravanning regularly in Deganwy, Wales.

“My mum has always loved music and dancing became a passion.

“If she was asked how she had got to 100 she would say stay as active as possible.

“Always eat well and enjoy life with your family.”

Asked how the celebrations went, Sue said: “Absolutely fantastic! “She’s felt so pleased.

“We had a little get-together at Elaine Price Court on Friday – they allowed us with distancing and everything.

“They allowed us to have a little gettogether so that was lovely and she hadn’t got a clue so it was a really big surprise.

“And she came to us and it was just family there, there was only a few of us.

“She didn’t know anything about that, so we did a buffet.

“She’s thoroughly enjoyed the two days really.”

Eva Ellis, 100, of Runcorn, pictured with daughter Sue Hamilton, opens her birthday card from The Queen