I am 100 – and my sister’s 96! (From Community Newsgroup)

I am 100 – and my sister’s 96!

8:33am Saturday 10th May 2008

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WHEN May Nockton celebrated her 100th birthday on Wednesday May 7, at her side was her sister, Mabel Glover, 96, who has been a lifelong companion.

The sisters were born in Old Hall Street in Macclesfield and lived close to one another in the town after they were married, later moving to Bollington, where they lived round the corner from one another in Windsor Close and Princes Drive.

May and her husband, Percy, were the first couple to move into the newly-opened Ingersley Court flats in 1974 and Mabel now has a flat in the complex, having moved there seven years ago.

As a child, May's ambition was to become a ballet dancer, but she left school at 12 to go to work in Brocklehurst's Mill, earning 7/6d for an 8am to 6pm working day.

On Saturdays May helped her father, Joseph, on his Hurdsfield allotment, growing fresh vegetables to help feed family and friends, but her treat of the week was on a Saturday night when she was given 3d for a front row seat at the Picture Drome in Chestergate. There was enough left to buy a bag of chips to eat while she walked home.

May's friend Gwendoline introduced her to her future husband, who was from Bollington, and they started walking out' each Sunday, often as far as Buxton and back.

They were married at St Michael's parish church in Macclesfield in 1933 and moved to Bollington.

Having nursed Percy through a bad bout of flu, May contracted it and spent ten months in a sanatorium in Market Drayton.

The couple's two sons, Jack (now deceased) and Roy, were born when they lived in Beech Lane, Macclesfield - about 100 yards from May's family home.

In 1956 they moved to Bollington Cross, where they both worked at the Adelphi Mill, May in the winding room until her retirement.

Percy died in 1980, but May continued to live in the flat, later moving into the CLS residential home within Ingerlsey Court.

Friends and staff at the court threw a party for May on her birthday and more celebrations will follow at the weekend, when Roy and family will attend. Among the guests at both parties will be Mabel.

jean.ellis@commnews.co.uk

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