Robert claims ‘independence and common sense helped me reach 100’
‘It’s sheer luck. I don’t think there is a secret,’ says Robert Grant, who celebrated his 100th birthday on April 4. ‘But I must be doing something right. I don’t rely on other people, I’m independent and I use my common sense.’
Having defeated the odds, headstrong Robert celebrated with his grandson Alex and best friend of 20 years, Tom Ferrand, at his flat in Fareham where visitors popped in and out during the day.
Topped off with three cakes spelling out 100 and a pre-birthday lunch at Pebbles Fish and Wine Bar in Gosport, ‘Bob’ was joined by Alex and says it was a quiet affair, as he is one of the last of his friends still alive.
‘I have two friends who are younger than me that come to visit,’ he says.
‘[My grandson] comes in every Tuesday evening and rings every night, even if he's abroad.’
Born at San Diego Road in Gosport in 1922, Robert was the eldest of five children. He was raised by his mother, Marjory, and stepfather, George, who was a flight sergeant in the RAF at Grange Airfield in Gosport.
Though his family had little money, Robert had a ‘happy and comfortable’ childhood attending Grove Road School in Gosport ‘regardless of the weather’.
After leaving school, he worked as an errand boy before signing up to join the territorial army in 1938 - where he added a year on to his age – so he could enrol. At just
17, Robert was in charge of a Lewis gun (a First World War-era machine gun) at the Gosport pontoon and found himself stationed as a gunner in Southsea when the Second World War started – actively fighting the blitz on Portsmouth.
The centenarian met his sweetheart, Joan – whom he nicknamed Blossom - when he was 18.
‘She was helping out with her girlfriends at a canteen in Waterlooville at the time,’ Bob explains.
‘In the evening her and her girl friends used to help out at a canteen there.
‘I was stationed at Crookhorn. We could go into Waterlooville and go to the cinema.
‘I met her in the canteen and it went from there. We were a complete couple.’
Fast forward four years and Robert married ‘Blossom’, his life and soul, in 1944 and they spent 74 happy years together camping, holidaying to ‘all the countries they wanted to go to’, rambling and starting Portchester Pétanque Club together.
Robert was pensioned off from the army after a motorcycle accident while working as a motorcycle despatch rider.
He found joy again working for an electrics and refrigerator company and then Sanderson’s Wallpaper Factory until retiring at 64.
Robert’s wife ‘Blossom’ died of Alzheimer’s disease about four years ago.
‘We were a complete couple,’ he says. ‘My wife and I were members of a cycling club for many years. We belonged to Eastney Cruising Association in Portsmouth. We both liked the water.’
On reaching 100, antiques collector Bob puts his longevity down to his ‘completely compatible marriage’, never being a smoker or drinker and not staying out late.
Alex Grant adds: ‘[My grandad] is amazing for his age. He stills lives in his own flat and has only just started having a little bit of support from a care agency in the last month or so.
‘When he retired he still ran rambling groups. I think being active is what helped him get this far. It’s quite the achievement to get to 100!’
‘[The News’ photographer] was really positive and managed to make two old boys feel very special.’