Wartime Sheffield bride Hetty celebrates 106th birthday

A wartime romance brought Hetty Hempshall across the Atlantic Ocean to Sheffield.
Hetty Hempshall celebrates her 106th birthday at Sheffcare’s Midhurst Residential Care HomeHetty Hempshall celebrates her 106th birthday at Sheffcare’s Midhurst Residential Care Home
Hetty Hempshall celebrates her 106th birthday at Sheffcare’s Midhurst Residential Care Home

But as she celebrates her 106th birthday, there’s no doubting the fact that she’s now a proper Sheffield lass.

Hetty is originally from St John’s in the Canadian province of Newfoundland but when the war brought the Royal Navy to town, she met husband John.

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When the conflict ended in 1945, she returned with him to his home in South Yorkshire.

John was killed in a work accident at the age of 42 and Hetty never married again, bringing up her son and three daughters alone and working for several years at the Bassett’s sweet factory and then as a cook at Graham Shaw’s cafe in Sheffield’s Castle Market.

Today she has seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren, who joined the team at Sheffcare’s Midhurst Residential Care Home in wishing Hetty a very happy 106th birthday.

Midhurst deputy manager Joe Hughes said: “The one thing you can say about Hetty is that she really is 106 years young.

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“She may have come from far away but she tells us that her favourite place to holiday was much closer - Bridlington!

“We wish Hetty a very happy birthday and hope she enjoys her day spending time with her family. Hetty you are wonderful.”