Burscough great-great grandmother enjoys 100th birthday party on Boxing Day

Jan 3 2013 by Rob Pattinson, Ormskirk Advertiser

A BURSCOUGH great-great- grandmother enjoyed a Christmas to remember after celebrating her 100th birthday surrounded by her loving family on Boxing Day.

Margaret Hardman was delighted to receive her telegram from the Queen at Arranmore Park rest home in Lathom last Wednesday.

Born and brought up in Burscough, Margaret spent most of her life on Victoria Street.

She later moved into Stanley Court when in her 80s, before becoming a resident at Arranmore Park three years ago. Margaret married village butcher Tom in 1939 and the couple had a daughter, Celia.

Tom was called up during the Second World War, where he served as an Army butcher, and took part in the D-Day Normandy landings.

On his return from the war, he went on to work as a foreman at Lavery’s cakes, on Red Cat Lane, where Margaret also worked before leaving to help Celia raise her grandchildren Andrea and Deborah.

When Tom returned to work as a butcher, his wife used to join him in delivering meat around the village in their van. Margaret now has four great-grandchildren and four great- great-grandchildren and is regularly visited at the rest home by Celia and her husband Eric.

Margaret, who was an active member of St John’s Church and the pensioners’ club in Burscough, celebrated her special day with a meal prepared by the rest home’s head chef. Granddaughter Andrea said: “Gran had a fantastic 100th birthday on what would have been her 73rd wedding anniversary.

“She was really well known in the village, most people knew her as Mrs Hardman. She spent a lot of her life as a housewife to a butcher and was a fantastic cook. When I was young, she used to say ‘when I get to 90 I’ll try for 100’. We’ve been reminding her of that over the past few years and it’s great she has done it and really enjoyed the day, too.”

Beverley Peters, manager of Arranmore Park, said: “Margaret is a real pleasure to care for.”