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Argus readers send birthday wishes to 101-year-old care home resident

Anne Scott was 'delighted' to receive birthday cards from Argus readers for her 101st birthday <i>(Image: Goldbridge Care Home)</i>
Anne Scott was 'delighted' to receive birthday cards from Argus readers for her 101st birthday (Image: Goldbridge Care Home)

Argus readers have sent warm wishes to a woman celebrating her 101st birthday.

Anne Scott celebrated her big day last week with a party at the Goldbridge Care Home in Haywards Heath, surrounded by her children and friends.

Along with afternoon tea and cake, Anne also received a pile of cards from readers passing on their best wishes.

Her daughter, Deborah, said Anne was very happy to have received so many cards, in particular from readers of the newspaper. It came after the care home appealed through The Argus for people to send Anne cards.

The Argus: Anne received several birthday cards from Argus readers
The Argus: Anne received several birthday cards from Argus readers

Anne received several birthday cards from Argus readers (Image: Anne Scott)

She said: “On behalf of our mother, the family would like to thank all those kind readers who sent birthday cards to Anne for her 101st birthday. She was delighted to receive them.”

Speaking to The Argus, Anne said it was a “surprise” to reach her 100th birthday last year, “let alone 101 this year.”

Anne was born in Malaysia in 1922 - the oldest of four sisters. She moved to England for her education but returned to Malaysia in 1939 just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

She served as a secretary for the British Services Press Liason Office in Singapore in 1941, where she met the man who would become her husband, Gerry, as an engineer for Shell.

The Argus: Anne Scott published a memoir about her life in the midst of the Second World War
The Argus: Anne Scott published a memoir about her life in the midst of the Second World War

Anne Scott published a memoir about her life in the midst of the Second World War (Image: Goldbridge Care Home)

Anne, her mother and sisters were evacuated by boat following the fall of Singapore to the Japanese the following year. The family were reunited in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe.

They eventually boarded a ship to return to the UK, but it was torpedoed by a German submarine. Anne was rescued, along with her sisters, by a Polish trawler.

After the war, Anne married Gerry and lived in London before moving to East Sussex, where she taught sculpture at a studio in Lewes and had two children, Deborah and Philip.

She also wrote a wartime memoir, A Journey By Candlelight, published in 1999, which explores in vivid detail her life as a young woman caught up in the extraordinary horrors of war.

Goldbridge Care Home manager Hasib Khan said: “Sharing milestone occasions is incredibly important to us and we hope Anne had a truly special day.”