Celebrations have been in full swing at Dudwell St Mary as one of its residents reaches her centenary birthday.
Trixie Barr was joined by staff, relatives, and other residents as she received a telegram from the Queen in recognition of her landmark birthday. A small reception was held at the home and family enjoyed a special birthday cake made by the home’s chef Tina Diss
Trixi was born on 15th March 1920 and was the daughter of an honest farmer, she spent most of her childhood days learning how to work on the farm, caring for the livestock, maintaining the crops and working hard. During the war time Trixie was called up to be one of the land girls and had to spend a lot of time away from home in Northern Kent, doing what she knew best working on the land to support the troops. After the war years Trixie became a farmer’s wife and began a family of her own having 2 wonderful sons. Becoming a grandmother and then a great-great grandmother to a set of triplets! All this and more before coming to Dudwell St Mary in 2007 where she is now enjoying a new chapter of her life.
The birthday girl said “I never thought I’d ever reach 100, but here I am, hard work and determination is all you need.”
Among those relatives attending was Trixie’s son and daughter in law, who played host for the afternoon. Speaking about his centenarian mother, he said: “Trixie is and has been a fantastic mother, aunty, grandmother, great-great grandmother and friend to so many over the past hundred years, and it’s wonderful to be with her on this very special day to say just how proud she makes us feel.”
Joao Carvalho Deputy Manager of Barchester Dudwell St Mary added: “We’re delighted to be celebrating a truly remarkable woman as she reaches this amazing milestone. Trixie is such a popular resident who always has an interesting tale to tell, and we look forward to hearing many more as she breaks into her next century.”
Dudwell St Mary care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals. Dudwell St Mary provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for 62 residents from respite care to long term stays.
