Aldingbourne great-grandmother celebrates her 100th birthday

Dorothy Noakes marked her centenary with socially distanced celebrations with her beloved family at her home, where she still lives independently.

Born in Darwen, Lancashire, on April 20, 1921, Dorothy worked in the Burton’s tailoring factory and the Avro aircraft factory in Yeadon before joining the Women’s Land Army and training at Penkridge, Staffordshire.

After training Dorothy moved to Selsey where she used to take the milk churns down to the village on a pony and trap.

From there she went to work at Nyton Farm, which is where she saw her future husband, Ronald, riding his bicycle to work in Barnham.

The couple was married at Aldingbourne Church on December 21, 1946, and had two daughters, Celia and Sally.

Sadly, Ronald passed away in 1992, but Dorothy is still surrounded by family with her four grandchildren – Melissa, Justin, Helen and Esther – and six great-grandchildren – Griffin, Henrietta, Loveday, Rosetta, Rufus and Charlie.

Her family said Dorothy is still very young at heart, and regularly texts them from her mobile phone, as well as enjoying doing crosswords.

Her daughter Sally said: “She is a very special lady and adored by all her family.”

---

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.