Hundreds of birthday cards for Cradley Heath woman Irene as she turns 100

Express & Star

Irene Weaver has turned 100 and a call put out by the care home she lives at for cards to be sent in has resulted in hundreds of cards coming through the door.  We call in to say Happy Birthday and find out more.

Transcript

00:00So we're here in Roxburgh House in Cradley Heath and we have, what's your

00:05names? Beryl, Robert. But it's not about you, it's all about Birthday Girl. Hello,

00:11hello Irene. That's you, 100 years old. How are you? Yeah, so has it been a busy day for you?

00:22Not really. We don't believe a word of that. I've seen balloons all over the shop at this place,

00:29is that for you, is it? Yes. Someone's got a bit of puff, there's a lot of balloons that have been

00:34blowing up, isn't there? So the care home put a call out, didn't they, saying, oh it'd be nice if

00:40people could send her a card, let's get a few cards. I mean, this is insane, isn't it? We've

00:45got a bag full, how many do you reckon? 370. That's crazy. How does that make you feel? So

00:53many people have posted in a card to wish you a happy birthday? I don't know. Does it make

00:59you feel a bit special? I don't know. Eh? I can't. I feel so. Yeah, well you are special,

01:06100 years old. So tell us a little bit about your mum then. OK, well mum, mum was born in

01:14King Standing. OK, yep. No, I don't know why she was born in Aston. Yeah. And then they moved to

01:20King Standing when she was about 12. Yeah. Years of age, just before the start of the Second World

01:26War. Yeah. Which was actually quite lucky because Aston got heavily damaged during the war. Yeah.

01:32But they moved to King Standing and she was there until she married my dad. Yeah. Who, they got married in

01:3949. So how did she meet your dad? Was he did a tea dancing quite often or something like that? I think

01:44it might be that he was working on the roof of her factory. Ah, OK. Where she was working. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So

01:53he was doing a repair and I think that's how they met. But like I say, they got married in March

02:0049. Yeah. I was born in January 50th. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I had a brother as well and a

02:09sister and a brother that was five years old. Yeah. And that's get the other one in,

02:14a wife too. Yeah. So. And what, so what did your mum, what was Irene's kind of line of work then?

02:20What did she used to do over the years? Oh, I don't know. She was, she was just in a factory.

02:24I think it was, I think it was. Yeah, OK. A factory somewhere in Birmingham. Yeah. I can't quite

02:31remember what, what the details were. And what, what, what have you done for pleasure over the

02:36years, Irene? Have you liked, have you enjoyed your holidays? Yes. So where, where's been your

02:41favourite place to go? Every main place. But where's your favourite then? If you had a magic wand and you could

02:49be whisked away on holiday to somewhere, where would you go? I don't know.

02:53Yeah. Land don't know. Are we talking Wales or are we talking on a plane abroad?

02:58Oh, I don't like going on a plane. No. We'll stick with Wales then. Yeah. We'll stick with

03:03Wales. And what have you enjoyed in your life? Have you, have you, have you been into your

03:07music? She loves to sing a lot. Sing. Oh, right, OK. What sort of stuff, what sort of

03:13singers, was there anyone I would know whose songs you would sing? I've got no. Go on,

03:19chuck a name out at me. I might surprise you, I might know it. Who did she used to like?

03:25Probably Shirley Bassey. Shirley Bassey? Well, I don't think so.

03:29I was going to say, you've got to have some proper lungs on you to attempt a Shirley Bassey song,

03:33haven't you? Yeah. So is she, erm, how long has she been here at Roxburgh then? Since March,

03:393rd of March. Yeah. 3rd of March. Yeah, yeah. And erm, she's settled in here has she, yeah? Well,

03:47yes. Yes and no. Yeah. So what have you, have you had any, what's it, you've had a special card

03:54off the King, there he is. Yeah. There we go, lovely. I haven't had one of them for my birthday.

04:00Erm, and have you had, have you managed to have a bit of birthday cake, or? Yeah, we had some earlier,

04:05didn't we? Yeah. And what's, what's your favourite tot over the years, if you had a tipple?

04:10No. Does she like a drink? Eggnog. Egg? She used to drink eggnog, yes. Eggnog? Yeah. Only at Christmas.

04:19Yeah, eggnog's kind of like erm, same as snowball, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, well I'm with you on that.

04:23I'll tell you what, I'll come back Christmas with a bottle of snowball, bottle of eggnog, yeah? Yeah.

04:28And we'll share it between us. How about that? Okay. We'll settle on that then. Right, so she's erm,

04:34so she's erm, she's been a character has she, over the years? Oh. She, she was just basically a house.

04:41She was a house. Yeah, yeah. She just moved from the other side of Birmingham. Yeah.

04:47Yeah, it was a long, it was a long way then, from King Stanley to, to Ireland, that's where...

04:52Well it was like different worlds, wasn't it then, you know what I mean?

04:55Well it was three buses, and it was an hour and a half, so it was a long way away.

04:59So your dad's not around anymore? No, he's high, he's 85.

05:03Okay, a few years back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

05:06Yeah. Well, I can see you're quite tired, but on behalf of the Expressing Star,

05:11we just want to wish you a happy birthday, okay chicken?

05:14Cool. Thank you my dear. Hello Sue, how are you?

05:16Fine, thank you. So you represent the home? Yes.

05:19So erm, so you guys decided to put the word out, did you? Yes.

05:22To get a few cards sent in? Yes, that's correct, yes.

05:25And erm, you must be pleased with the response you've had.

05:27It's been overwhelming, every day we've had loads of envelopes,

05:31we've had some from all over the place, we've had some from America, Edinburgh.

05:35So you're off the postman's Christmas list, didn't you?

05:37I think so, yes. He's got a bad back now.

05:40Yeah, it's been really amazing, and a lot of the erm,

05:42the children have done cards as well, from local schools.

05:46Oh wow, that's fantastic. Yeah.

05:48So you've had some come from as far as where, do you think?

05:50America, one was New Jersey.

05:52That's crazy, isn't it?

05:53Yeah, yeah.

05:54It's crazy how this, the word can travel, isn't it?

05:57We've had somebody ringing up, they were going to send some flowers.

06:00Yeah.

06:01So, you know, it's really heartwarming.

06:04Yeah.

06:05You know, the response from the public.

06:07It's special isn't it, 100 years?

06:08Oh yes.

06:09We need to make a fuss of her, don't we?

06:10Very much so, it's amazing achievements.

06:12Yeah, yeah.

06:13Well done to all involved here at Roxburgh.

06:15Yeah.

06:16Yeah.

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