Jet-setting great-great-grandmother and 'best baker in Sheffield' Joyce Slater celebrates 100th birthday

Joyce, who got her card from The King on February 23, says the secret to a long and happy life is to enjoy your sweets and do your brain training every night before bed.

Now, the born-and-bred Sheffield travel agent and ‘the best baker in the city,’ has celebrated her centennial birthday surrounded by five generations of her family.

Granddaughter Ann West, 55, told The Star, said her beloved nan enjoyed a day at Joseph Stone Hall in Mosborough with a performance by a choir - and being presented with her very own ‘This Is Your Life’ book arranged and printed by her family.

Ann said: “She’s just the most genuinely lovely lady who would do anything for anyone. We’re a very close family and we all say what a great example she’s always set.

“She’s also very trendy - she’s on Facebook and has more clothes than anybody I know, just wardrobes and wardrobes of them.”

Joyce Eileen Hope was born on February 23, 1925, the middle child of eight brothers and sisters.

She grew up in Pitsmoor but over her life would live across Sheffield, including Parkwood Springs and Shiregreen. As a young girl, she loved having ‘dances’ at home and always loved having friends over.

She met her future husband, Ernest, just before he was sent off to fight in WWII. Ann said: “She met him just before he was sent off, and they were pen pals for years. Then, when he was on leave, she visited him and he asked her out.

“They got married after the war in 1948 and used to go dancing, because that was their thing.

“When they first got married, because the blitz had so badly affected Sheffield, they lived with relatives for the first few years. Then, once they moved out, they had four children.

“They were married for 52 years before he died in 2001.”

While raising her family, Joyce was also an accomplished travel agent who took every chance she could to travel all over the world on flights or cruises, with South Africa and Canada as her favourite places to visit.

Ann also credits Joyce as “the best baker in the city” in her time.

“No one could bake like she could,” said Ann. “She used to sell her apple pies in her dad’s butcher shop at the bottom of Hyde Park Flats. They would sell out every day.”

The Slater family also made an appearance on Family Fortunes in the 1990s - Ann said they “did very well” during a practice episode, when but when it came time to tape the episode they didn’t get quite so many questions right.

Now 100, Joyce loves her arts and crafts, and enjoys social gatherings with her friends and her very large family - made up of four children, nine grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and she has just welcomed her fourth great-great-grandchild.

Ann said: “She’s just so independent and a real inspiration. My nan has always been very hard working and honest, and very approachable. She would never expect anyone to do something she wouldn’t be prepared to do herself.

“Lots of us in her family have grown up to be business oriented and go-getters, and we all think that’s because of her example.

“It’s amazing what an example is set by having a nan you look up to in your family. We all think so.”