WHEN Molly Buckle was born it took up to 40 days to travel to Britain from Australia, but relatives made it in less than 24 hours for her 100th birthday.

The centenarian marked the milestone yesterday surrounded by family from Perth at The Close Care Home, in Burcot, near Abingdon.

Grandson Ricky and great-granddaughters Amy, 22, and Laura, 19, flew in to join son Bill, 79, and daughter Mary-Ann Cannon, 67, for the party.

Mrs Buckle was born Lilian Mary Johnson in Reading and spent almost all of her life in South Oxfordshire.

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There she worked as a domestic helper at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment near Harwell.

She grew up in Milton with her father William, mother Priscilla and sister Phyllis, who was two years her senior.

She met her husband William at the age of 17 in 1932 in Milton Heights and married two years later.

Daughter Mrs Cannon said: “The family moved up to Milton Heights from Wantage and she went to the house first to clean it up.

Oxford Mail:

  • Molly as a child

“They wore long skirts in those days so she took her skirt off to scrub the floor and there was a knock on the front door.

“She came running down the stairs and it was my father at the door; he was a milkman.

“We always said he fell in love with her legs first.”

Mrs Buckle began to lose her eyesight in 1987 due to macular degeneration and moved to The Close in 2006.

Mrs Cannon said: “She used to love dressmaking and she made my wedding dress. She also loved knitting but she can’t do either any more.

“She still loves singing though. She loves Daniel O’Donnell and Irish songs.

“The other day she was sitting and a gentleman who lives in the care home came by and said, ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary, Molly,’ and off she went. She went off singing down the corridor.”

Mrs Buckle’s husband died aged 92 in 2000 and she travelled to Australia to visit her grandchildren and great-grandchildren soon after.

Mrs Cannon said: “It was a bit of a shock for her meeting them again.

“Last time she met Laura she was six years old and now she’s 19 and six foot tall. It was nice to see everyone together yesterday, it was a great day.”

 

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