Sheffield woman celebrates 100th birthday during lockdown

Alice Gardner from Shiregreen, was unable to be visited by her friends and family on the special day due to social distancing measures, put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

But the mother-of-three instead received flowers, cards and phone calls from loved ones who tried to celebrate her 100th birthday with her, remotely due to the pandemic.

Alice’s daughter, Enid Crownshaw, 78, explained how she felt being apart from her mother on such a special anniversary.

She added: "It's a massive milestone that not many people make.

"I just accepted that unfortunately I couldn't spend the day with her and celebrate but what else can you do?

"I rang her and wished her a happy birthday and so did a lot of others, she was made a fuss of.

"I was just really happy that so many people got in touch to wish her well to sort of make up for us not being able to celebrate in person.

"She wasn't really bothered about presents because at her age there's nothing that she really wants.”

The centenarian, who helped sharpen knives in Sheffield during World War Two, was ‘overjoyed’ to have received a special letter from the Queen, marking her birthday.

"She was overjoyed to get her letter from the queen - she said she couldn't wait until she received it”, Enid added.

"She told me she was going to put the letter in the window so everyone could see it.”

Alice was previously planning to spend the milestone celebrating with her luncheon club, which has been cancelled because of the ongoing pandemic.

“She was disappointed really because they were going to make a real fuss of her and cook her a special meal”, Enid added.

"They were going to decorate the hall for her and have a nice cake so it was going to be a celebration for her.”