100th birthday champers for bubbly Alice

100 years young . . . Alice Lord

SPRIGHTLY Alice Lord cracked open the champagne today as she celebrated her 100th birthday at Alexandra House in Queens Road, where she has lived for the past eight years.

Alice was born in Copsterhill and, incredibly, lived in the same house for 92 years before eventually moving to the nursing home in 2000.

An only child, Alice never married or had any children, and reckons that might just be the key to her incredible longevity.

She said: “I don’t think I’d have lived this long if I’d got married and had children!

“I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had lots of lovely friends and have been well looked after by them and by the staff here at Alexandra House.”

Alice left St Paul’s School in Ashton Road at the age of 14 and went to work as a weaver in the Stott’s Werneth Mill until the age of 40.

She then took some time out of work to care for her blind mother and later trained as a nurse, working in what was then Boundary Park and then at the Monsall Hospital, near Manchester, which has since been closed down.

Alice enjoyed rambling and was a regular at St Paul’s Church in Ashton Road, where she taught as a Sunday School teacher for a number of years.

She now enjoys a more relaxed pace of life and likes to read and write letters to her many friends.

Sarah Beswick, manager at Alexandra, said: “Alice is a pleasure to have around.”