Sheffield veteran shares secret to his long and happy life and marriage as he celebrates 100th birthday

It’s safe to say that Roy Ashton has lived to see his fair share of events that have captured the world in the last century, including the Blitz tearing apart Sheffield, World War II, 21 different Prime Ministers, and the up-and-coming coronation of King Charles. He has also been a season ticket holder for Sheffield United for 96 years.

As he celebrated becoming a centenarian on April 5, Roy said he felt “the same as I did when I was 99”, but advised others to “live sensibly” to reach the same milestone. He said: “Always live within your means, never have any debt. Just keep living a normal life. I keep gardening and that keeps me going. People say I shouldn't be doing that at my age, but I do.”

Roy, who lives in his home in Waterthorpe with his 96-year-old wife Gertrude, better known as Trudy, says his “greatest achievement” over the past 100 years has been his family, and watching them grow and flourish into the people they are today.

Roy said: “We have a lovely family, and we’re grateful for them all. They do look after us and that's one thing we're thankful for, they don’t cause us any trouble.

"All the family have done well, and I’m very pleased to say that because I know we brought them all up to be that way.”

Roy was born in 1923, and spent his early years growing up on Monmouth Street, just off Hanover Way. He attended Springfield School until the age of 14 when he started work as an apprentice mechanic at EH Pickford on Ecclesall Road.

In 1941, Joy joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corp when he turned 18 and was soon deployed overseas to fetch and repair broken vehicles on the frontline during WW2. Shortly after celebrating his 21st birthday on Mount Carmel, in Israel, Roy and his unit were sent to Italy to reclaim San Marino and later Trieste from the German invasion. In 1945, nearing the end of the war, Roy was granted leave where his family and friends had belated celebrations for his 21st birthday at Elliots, a pub near his home.

Roy said: “I had pints coming in from one side and pints coming in from the other side, and a girl I’d never met before came in with another chap, and for some reason or another, she came home with me, and that’s how I met Trudy.”

Roy returned to Italy after his leave and the couple wrote to each other until Roy returned home for good in December 1946. They married on April 5, 1947, which is also Roy’s birthday, at the former St Silas Church in Broomhall. They would later welcome their children Ian and Susan into the world while Roy worked as a store keeper. The pair are now great-grandparents.

They said they’ve made their 76 years of marriage work by simply working together. Roy said: “You’ve got to work together and help each other as much as possible.

“We just like to be a happy couple, and anybody that visits we like to entertain them in the proper manner. There’s too many people now that are lonely, and there’s too much nasty stuff going on in the world.

“We look back on the happy memories and think at least we’ve lived through the better times.”