A CWMBRAN grandmother celebrated her 100th birthday on Monday surrounded by her friends and family.

Florence Maydell moved to Wales in 2012 to be near her family after spending most of her life living in Crawley.

She said: “I got my card from the Queen this morning. I was looking forward to that arriving.

“I got a card from the first minister as well.”

Mrs Maydell married her husband William in 1942. He was an engineer who made parts for the machines in the Metal Box factories which made tins and other packaging.

South Wales Argus:

Florence Maydell with son Alan, grandson Stuart, granddaughter-in-law Charlotte, grandson Karl, and daughter-in-law Kathleen (L-R).

“During the war I was a Red Cross nurse in the first aid post in the evenings three nights a week,” she said. “During the day, I was working at a research facility making experimental radio valves for the navy.

“When I was younger, I did a lot of knitting, dressmaking and reading. After I had just got married, we would go out ballroom dancing. I was quite good at dancing.

“I also played the piano – I was at the Royal Academy of Music for about five years.

“When I was a teenager, I got a scholarship in to Christ’s Hospital school. But I couldn’t take it up as I had to look over my mother.”

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Mrs Maydell, a resident at Cwmbran House, has one son, Alan, and two grandsons, Stuart and Karl.

“She was brilliant, she looked after us very well,” said Mr Maydell. “They always did their best for me, both mum and dad. There’s been so many great memories over the years.

“We moved to south Wales in 1990 after living in South Africa for 18 years.

“Mum and dad lived in Crawley for 50 or 60 years, and would come out on holiday to visit us.

“After dad died in 2007, mum lived on her own for five years before moving here. She outlived everyone on her street in Crawley!”