Double celebration as Ethel marks 100 years by reopening Whitworth day centre

When Ethel Taylor celebrated her 100th birthday it was a double celebration as, alongside the town mayor, she also got to cut the ribbon to officially reopen Sunnybank Day Centre in Whitworth.

It was the first official engagement for Mayor of Whitworth Town Council, Councillor Maureen Jones, since she took office last month.

At the event, she presented Ethel with flowers and two special home-made cards.

Councillor Jones said: “The past 18 months have been very difficult for us all, but I hope that this happy occasion will also be the start of us being able to socialise again.”

Ethel was born in Cherry Tree, Blackburn, a twin to sister Helen, who sadly died aged three years and eight months while having an operation to remove her tonsils and adenoids.

Her father was a soldier and was posted away a lot while she was growing up.

She said: “I used to work in a chemist shop where I would dispense medicine. I married Ernest when I was 23 in 1944 and he was in the Territorial Army.”

The couple, who went on to live in Manchester and Norden, Rochdale, had a son Brian, who lives in Cyprus.

Ethel was delighted when her grandson Mark, his partner Sandra and five-year-old great-grandson Jake were able to join her friends at her birthday party in the day centre. It was the first time she had met Jake.

Ethel lives at Sunnyside Rest Home, a small private care home that also owns the day centre on Market Street, Whitworth.

She said: “I moved here in October last year and it is lovely.”

 

 

 

 

Manager of the home Clare Greenwood said: “The rest home opened last June but the day centre has had to be closed since the first lockdown in March last year.

“This is the first day we have been able to reopen the centre and it coincided with Ethel's 100th birthday making it extra special.

“Unfortunately, her son Brian was unable to come back from Cyprus to attend, but Ethel was delighted to see her grandson Mark and his family.

“We opened the care home last year and we have had no Covid deaths at the home and because we are only small with just seven beds it is more like a family. We provided one-to-one domiciliary care for each resident and everyone was kept in bubbles.

“As we had a separate room, we allowed families to be able to visit their loved ones throughout the pandemic and in the last four months for one of our resident's lives he was able to see his family right to the end, which was very important for everyone.

“We managed ourselves with no outside help and now we are so pleased to be able to open the day care centre again; another step back to normality.”

The centre will now be used for functions, office space, activities for residents and is also available for the community to use.