A GREAT-GRANDMA took a trip down memory lane across Solihull to celebrate her 100th birthday.
Joyce Clarke and her family got onboard the Royal Star and Garter minibus for a surprise drive around Solihull and Sheldon, where she grew up.
She visited Ninestiles, An Academy, which she attended as a child when it was named Hartfield Crescent where the current pupils sang Happy Birthday to her.
The trip down memory lane also saw Joyce and her family visit old abodes and places of work.
Afterwards, Joyce and her family returned to the Home in Tudor Coppice, where she was treated to her favourite lunch.
She also celebrated with her friends and fellow for cream tea and champagne, and live music in the afternoon.
Joyce was the eldest of nine brothers and sisters and was born in Birmingham.
She met her husband Frank at a ballroom dance, and the couple married on November 8 1941 at Hall Green Parish Church.
Frank went on to serve in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry from 1943 to 1946, and saw frontline action in the Battle of Monte Cassino and Battle for the Gothic Line, both part of the Italian Campaign.
He was then stationed in Greece as part of the peacekeeping unit during the country’s civil war.
The couple went on to have two children.
During the Second World War Joyce worked at Wrensons grocers in Warwick Road in Olton where she would occasionally stay overnight and sleep above the shop as fire watch.
Joyce said: “I had a lovely day. The drive in the morning was quite a surprise.”
She has been a resident at Royal Star and Garter, which provides care to veterans and their partners living with disability or dementia, since 2018.
Her son Graham said: “All the staff at the Home made mum’s day special from start to finish.
“We all want to give a heartfelt thanks for everything they have done to make the day exceptional.”
