101-year-old celebrates birthday with 30,000 cards from strangers
By Amanda Killelea
A 101-year-old celebrated her birthday today - with 30,000 cards from strangers after an appeal went viral.
Mum-of-one Edna Clayton spent her last birthday alone, so staff at Hector House care home in Glasgow wanted to make this one extra special.
Edna, from Battlefield, Glasgow, had a surprise party this morning and will have a jaunt on a party bus with son James, 58, and her friends from the care home.
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Since the appeal went viral, Edna received tens of thousands of cards, a happy birthday video from David Tennant and Michael Sheen, a surprise appearance on Good Morning Britain, and a card from the Queen which she had missed out on last year.
BBC Radio Two DJ Zoe Ball kicked off Edna's birthday celebrations on her breakfast show this morning.
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The OAP attributed her long life to maintaining her independence - and still does her own make up in the morning and gets her hair done, due to not wanting to let standards slip.
Edna said: "Not worrying, sheer determination, being positive, being independent, taking what life throws at you with a smile on your face and getting on with it are the secrets to my long life.
"I love getting my hair done, I still colour my hair, I might be turning 101, but it doesn’t mean I should let the grey hairs show through.
"I like to put my make-up on in the mornings too, and I like breathing in fresh air."
She said the idea of people taking time to write to her renewed her faith in the world.
Edna added: "It reminds me that there's a lot of lovely, kind people in this world. I am planning on going on a party bus, first time for everything, a wee afternoon tea afterwards, hopefully with my boy and my fellow residents."
Care home manager Angela Todd said: “She’s just on another cloud right now, absolutely overwhelmed.
“Last year, she didn’t have the celebrations that she had planned, she just spend the day with her carers. She’s a very well-known character in the area so there would have been more, but that didn’t bother Edna. She’s never been one to put herself first.
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“We’ve done it because she’s been an inspiration as a mother, she dedicated her life to her boy and did it all by herself, she survived a war, a global pandemic.
“Until the pandemic hit she was still doing everything by herself, going out to the shop, doing the washing.
“I think that’s why it went viral, we received so many cards and messages just saying how inspirational she’s been to people.
“We just hope we made up for all the birthdays that she didn’t get to celebrate.”
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Additional reporting SWNS
