A SECOND World War ‘clippie’ celebrated her 100th birthday.
Eileen Ponsonby was joined by her friends, family and the Mayor of Solihull, Councillor Shahin Ashraf at Pegasus Court in Shirley to mark her special day.
Eileen was born in a small Hamlet called Doonmurrahoe in County Roscommon, Ireland on April 10, 1925.
In 1942r she was recruited by a Birmingham Bus Inspector named Mr Mann who travelled from the city to Strokestown (a town near Doonmurrahoe) to recruit a group of female Bus Conductors.
Eileen and the new recruits then travelled to Birmingham by ship, then train and spent the first week undergoing formal training in the Liverpool St Bus Garage to become a Bus Conductor on how to issue tickets and cashing-up procedures.
The ticket prices were one, two and three penny tickets. Plus sixpence return and halfpenny tickets for children.
She met Denis at a Saturday Night Dance in Tindal St school in 1947.
The couple married at St Johns RC Church in Balsall Heath on February 5, 1948 and they welcomed four sons Mike, Des, Paul and Mark to the family.
