WHISKY AND FAVOURITE QUIZ HELP MOLLY TO REACH 104
A Rum B Whisky C Vodka
Telly quiz fan Molly Turner has celebrated a top birthday score of 104.
The former laundry and wartime munitions factory worker has marked her milestone year with a party surrounded by her friends and family.
The event was made extra special thanks to cards sent to her by Bradley Walsh, the host of her favourite game show The Chase, and Ann Hegerty, one of the ITV programme’s Chasers, who challenge contestants in a battle of the brains.
The cards arrived after her great-niece Sara Harker, 50, made contact with the show as she and her mum Liz, 76, helped arrange the celebration at Woodridge Gardens, in Columbia, Washington.
Molly still lives in her own flat there with the support of carers.
Liz, Molly’s niece, said: “I think if we asked her what the secret to a long life is, she would probably say it was whisky.
“She likes a little tipple at the end of the day, but I also think she has a certain ‘joie de vivre’ and she has always been very positive.
“We celebrated when she was 100 and she’s still here, which is wonderful, and she’s said then she would like to make it to 110.”
The party for Molly – who became the ‘face of Gentoo when she became a centenarian – featured a singer, with her main carer Joe Pearson and nieces Marie Toberty, 82, also among the crow to join in the gathering.
Molly, nee Potter, was born in the cottage which is now used as a taxi office in Fatfield.
When she was 15 she moved to Romford, in East London, to work in a laundry.
She married council worker Harvey Turner and when the second world war began, he was conscripted into the services, while she helped by working in a munitions factory, returning to their usual jobs when peacetime came.
During the war she lost youngest brother Joe in the conflict and has become the last remaining Potter after the death of her brothers William, Edward and Jack.
Molly and Harvey had a passion for travel and visited Australia, as well as countries across Europe.
When she was widowed at 60, she moved back to Washington, first settling in Sulgrave.
Until her recent years she had enjoyed joining in the bingo at the town’s Mecca and loved reading.
Now, she particularly enjoys watching television quiz shows.