A WOMAN from Moor View Care Home in Okehampton has celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by family on February 26.

Edith Denton, born Edith M’Gaffin, is of Irish descent and was born on February 26, 1919, in Sheffield.

After school she became a legal secretary in a firm of solicitors in Sheffield. During the Second World War Edith joined the WRVS (Royal Voluntary Service) and worked on ambulances including throughout the Sheffield Blitz.

She, along with her female colleagues, kept the office operating during the war as most of the men went off to war, including her future husband who was posted to the Far East. Edith waited five years for him to return home and they were married on January 15, 1949.

Together they raised two daughters and moved to Derbyshire village in 1962.

A wonderful homemaker and mother, Edith also worked tirelessly as the local secretary of the RNLI Lifeboats Association and helped raise thousands of pounds for the lifeboats.

Edith’s husband died in 2002 and in 2006 Edith moved to Devon to be near her second daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.