Centenarian care home resident had always been 'determined' to make it to 100

Kathleen King recently celebrated her 100th birthday at a care home in Gerrards Cross, with her son saying she has always been “determined to make it to a hundred years old”.

Staff members at Austenwood Nursing Home, in Gerrards Cross, organised a special lockdown birthday party for Kathleen with the other residents, with her family singing happy birthday to her from the driveway.

Kathleen’s family observed the social distancing rules and wore PPE for the special visit and were with her when she opened her special birthday card from the Queen. Her relatives who live abroad also made a video of messages for her.

Kathleen King's son James said: “She was always determined to make a 100-years-old, now she made it and she got her birthday card from the Queen.

“My mum loved dancing, she and her best friend; even in the midst of the Second World War blitz, would go up to London and they would go dancing in what were then the equivalent of clubs.

“When the air raid sirens rang they would go down into the shelters, wait for the bombs to drop and they would then come up afterwards and carry on dancing."

He referred to his mother as from “a pretty tough generation that lived through the Second World War”.

“She worked for a bit but then had to be a carer for her father who was injured in a land mine bomb in the First World War, she looked after him and brought us up.

“My mother was known for always having the kettle on, people would come around and she would always welcome them with a cuppa.

“My father tragically died at the age of 71, almost 30 years ago, because of cancer so since then she has lived as a widow.”

Kathleen lived independently at home until two years ago.

“At first she was cared for by my daughter then as her physical health deteriorated, we moved her to Austenwood Nursing Home in August 2019

“I have to say they have been amazing, she was beginning to get bed bound, they got her up, fed her properly and she’s got a new lease of life," revealed her son.

Jenny Bloomberg, care relations manager for Salveo Care, said: “Kathleen’s birthday went extremely well. Our team had been mentioning to Kathleen a couple days prior that her birthday was coming so we were able to build up the excitement.

“During the night prior, our staff decorated her bedroom with banners, balloons and paintings from our local community so when she woke up she had a bedroom full of birthday wishes. Along with the decorations in her bedroom, the communal areas of the home were also decorated.

“We all sang happy birthday to her with some of our local community joining us in our driveway and presented her with a fabulous cake which was made by our chef. It was a fun day for Kathleen and our other residents as it’s not every day we have such a milestone to celebrate, we couldn’t have asked for a better day.”

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