Myrtle makes her milestone

Myrtle Chantrey 100 today

A CHADDERTON great-grandmother raises a glass to her 100th birthday today.

Myrtle Chantrey (formerly Riley, nee Stead), who lives at Avonleigh Gardens residential home, will see relatives coming from Canada, America, Wales and Scotland to help her celebrate.

Myrtle has a daughter, a stepdaughter, two grandsons and a great grandson.

Daughter Jennifer Barker, who lives in Shaw, said: “Apart from trouble with her legs 20 years ago, she has not had any serious illnesses.”

Myrtle was born in Chadderton and went to Eustace Street Junior School then North Chadderton Girls School.

After leaving when 14 she worked at Falcon Mill in Chadderton as a velvet weaver. When she married Norman Riley in 1939 they moved to Birmingham but moved back to Middleton to escape the Blitz.

In 1948 the family emigrated to Nova Scotia, Canada, but returned to Chadderton after 14 months. Myrtle worked as a pharmacy assistant at Oldham Co-operative Society until she retired at the age of 64.

After Norman’s death in 1970, Myrtle married Cyril Chantrey in 1974. He died in 2005, and Myrtle continued to live in Chadderton until 2011 when she moved to a care home in Watersheddings.