Thursday 2 April 2015

Alf's 100th birthday

Father in law, Alf, or Sir Alfred as we often called him, always said he would live to be 100yrs old....and after a very shake-y 3 months this year when the Doctor and Paramedics were called out frequently.....HE MADE IT ! He has his telegram and card from the Queen and the local news paper came to take his photo....yesterday, April 1st. He's toasting himself with a drop of larger here !
Bless him. he has no idea he has achieved it......but we do !
He was surrounded by his family who live locally, (others live abroad or quite far away) His wife and a son died some years ago.
The residential home where he has lived since 2011 put on entertainment and a lovely buffet to which most of the residents came and joined in. He was a lifelong supporter of Hull City AFC so his cake was in team colours.
As a young man he was one of a team putting electricity into the houses between the wars....the same houses would still have outside toilets for many years to come....he did his bit during the WW2 then he was an insurance agent....doing his round on foot and then on bicycle.....he had many stories about collecting the money and found a number of people who committed suicide on his round...Later he became a porter at the Infirmary and was on duty for two of the major incidents....
He put his good health down to all the walking and cycling keeping him fit....and until 2010 he looked after himself and was a dapper old man, always wore a collar and tie...
The home is very good, always striving to do more for their residents....and after chatting to them...I offered to make some dementia activity pillows etc...so watch this space, I'll post my efforts.
I still have workmen popping back to do a bit more here and there....loving the way my bathroom is shaping up......