A great grandmother who is believed to be the Bradford district’s oldest resident has celebrated a remarkable milestone – her 106th birthday.
Elsie Royston, who has lived through two world wars and the reigns of five monarchs, celebrated with a glass of sherry with her friends at the Borrins nursing home in Baildon.
She was born in Wheltley Lane, Girlington, Bradford, in 1905 – the same year Einstein published the first papers on his famous theory of relativity – and only moved out of the area after turning 100.
The mother-of-four, who brought up her children while working in Bradford’s mills and a lunatic asylum, told the Telegraph and Argus: “The secret of a long life is hard work. It must be. I went out to work while looking after four children but it was still the happiest time of my life when they were kids.”
Her marriage to Robert Dunne in 1926 was held in a school classroom because their nearest church in Girlington had yet to be fully built.
At this time, she was bottling beer at the old William Whittaker brewery on the site where Bradford’s crumbling Odeon building now stands.
They had a son, Derek, but two weeks after his birth tragedy struck when Robert died suddenly.
She later married Allan Royston, and three more children, Dennis, Sally and Irene followed.
The couple spent 50 years of happy marriage together.
Mrs Royston said: “We used to go out dancing on a night to places in Thornton Road and City Road and Majestic in Leeds. I was younger then and could run around a bit.”
During the war, she worked in Bradford’s mills and as a nurse at Storthes Hall hospital in Huddersfield, caring for mentally ill patients. Her working life ended as a manager at the Grattan warehouse in Bradford.
Mrs Royston is understood to be Bradford district’s oldest resident after Ivy Bean died in July last year, aged 104.
Yesterday, Mrs Royston was being serenaded by a singer at the Borrins nursing home in Station Road in Baildon and enjoying a drink with the other residents.
Carer Yvonne Osbourne said: “She is absolutely brilliant. She can remember all the way back to childhood and has had a wonderful life.
“We tease her that she’s looking for a new fella but she can’t see one!
“She’s got a great sense of humour.”
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