VERA O’Connor is proud to live in Rogiet, that much is clear when discussing her life days after her 100th birthday last week.

She moved to the village from Torquay when she was eight months old, with her father – who had been given first choice on some cottages reserved for Great Western Railway workers injured in the First World War.

“Her father George Webber was so badly injured that he got the pick of the bunch, and they lived very well for that time, with hot water and a bathroom,” her nephew Mike Lennard explains, who now cares for her as Mrs O’Connor - who celebrated her landmark on Wednesday, June 3 - suffers with dementia.

When Mrs O’Connor was 11 her mother Florence died with pneumonia on a train heading back to Rogiet from London, where she was being treated for cancer.

South Wales Argus:

(Vera in 1937)

She married Bill O’Connor in 1940, and on the way to their honeymoon destination in Torquay, their train was the target of bombs in Bristol.

“It was certainly not a honeymoon to forget," Mr Pennard laughed.

During World War Two Mrs O’Connor made Sten guns in Portskewett, and transported ammunition to Gwent depot.

“She was from a military family, and was a great shot,” said Mr Lennard.

Mr and Mrs O’Connor would go on to start their own dance school in Rogiet and work for the Caldicot Operatic Society, with Mrs O’Connor taking on the role of choreographer.

She is still regularly praised for her work with the dancers, who have reunions to this day.

After the war she went on to become a seamstress in Newport, before eventually owning her own business and moving it to Caldicot.

South Wales Argus:

(Vera with father George - left - and husband Bill)

“Everyone in the area knew her as a seamstress, and there are still so many lovely wedding dresses made by Vera,” Mr Lennard added. 

Mr O’Connor died in 1997, and Mr Lennard moved in to look after his aunt in 2000.

Mrs O’Connor has two sons and two grandchildren, and she grew very close to her nephew following a motorbike accident in 2001.

“I am a keen biker and crashed very badly and spent six weeks in hospital in Cheltenham,” Mr Lennard recalls. “Vera came and tended to me every day for six weeks, and she was 81.

“I will always be so grateful for what she has done for me, and now she needs me to help her. It’s an honour.”

South Wales Argus:

(Vera and Bill were a brilliant dance partnership, and went on to win many awards and teach)

Remarkably, Mrs O’Connor survived sepsis in 2017, aged 97.

“I’ve never heard of someone that age surviving such an illness, she’s a real fighter,” Mr Lennard added.

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Mrs O’Connor, who puts reaching 100 down to not drinking alcohol or smoking, spent her birthday seeing neighbours in her garden and eating plenty of cake.

“It was beautiful,” she said. “I love Rogiet, and I love the people here. I’m ever so lucky."