THERE aren't many senior citizens more senior in the UK than Gwen Tilbrook of Eastnor, who celebrated her 108th birthday last week.
According to The Oldest in Britain online list, which does its best to be comprehensive, Miss Tilbrook is currently the 94th oldest person in the UK, and she is one of just 170 people in the country aged 107 and over.
Miss Tilbrook was born on November 22, 1909, in Edwardian Britain, when advances such as powered flight had only recently been achieved. The Titanic was yet to set sail.
She marked her remarkable birthday last week with a party at Birchams Grange Residential Care Home in Eastnor, where she has been a resident since 2003.
Emma Ciucur, director at Birchams Grange said: "We had a big party for Gwen; she received another card from the Queen. She hasn't really got any family, but close friends attended."
Miss Tilbrook now enjoys a quiet life, but loves music, reading, knitting and glass of sherry; she also loves the countryside.
But she has enjoyed a varied and busy life.
She attended a private ladies' college during the late 1920s and later she moved to small farm at Castlemorton, where she helped her mother with running the farm, during the late 1930s.
Miss Tilbrook later moved to Bank Crescent in Ledbury, where she owned and ran a bed-and-breakfast business, until she retired in the late 1970s.
She did not move out of Ledbury, however. Before moving to Birchams Grange, she lived in Biddulph Way.
Longevity seems to be a feature of her family.
Miss Tilbrook had a younger sister, called Lily, who lived to be 100 and one month.
She was also a resident at Birchams Grange.
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