Former mill girl and Army driver turns 105

She was born as the country recovered from World War One, which had ended only three years earlier, and just weeks before the first vaccination against tuberculosis was administered in 1921.

One-hundred and five years later, Dorothy May Maude has celebrated her birthday in her own home in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Known as Dolly, the centenarian still lives independently with the help of her daughters and carers.

She was reaching adulthood when World War Two broke out, and worked in a textile mill before joining the Army Auxiliary Territorial Service as a driver.

She met her husband, Leonard, at a rollerskating rink, but she has been a widow since the 1970s. They had three children.

Maude kept active throughout her life, playing badminton competitively and dancing.

Her main ailment at 105 is sore knees, but she is otherwise in good health.

When asked her secret to a long and healthy life, she said: “I have told everybody this, hard work and Oil of Olay.

“I brought three children up and we didn’t have the modern stuff like we have today.

“It was harder going then, we didn’t have any transport, so we just used to go for walks.”

Remembering the war years, she said the mill she worked in made military uniforms before she ended up joining the services herself.

“I learned to drive a lorry and then my job was driving officers around to different sites.“

Maude lost her son, David, in 1994, when he was 44, but daughters Susan Lynch and Christine Leek, now in their 70s, live nearby and surprised her with a party.

Leek said: “She lost my dad when he was only 57 and she has been on her own since then.

“She’s struggled a bit over the past 12 months, she can’t get out anymore.

“The carers are a big help and she does well.

“We made her a buffet and she has had phone calls and visits from the neighbours.”

Maude has four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

She received a card from the King and Queen to mark her 105th birthday.

Lynch added: “We are very proud of her, we think she will outdo us.

“She has more up there than my husband and I have put together!”

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