Family members around the world today shared in Betty Poole's 100th birthday at Spring Lodge care home, in Woolverstone.

For ahead of her party at 3pm she connected via Zoom with relatives as far afield as Arizona, in the US, and Vancouver, in Canada.

Joining her at the Kingsley Healthcare home for her party were sons Geoff and Chris with their wives and the Rev Chris Nunn, Vicar of All Saints Church, Kesgrave, where Mrs Poole worshipped for many years.

The vicar was accompanied by members of her congregation who sang hymns as well as joining in a chorus of Happy Birthday.

Mrs Poole was born in Ipswich on 11th March 1922, the youngest of nine children of the Podd family, descended from 15th-century Yeoman farmers on the Shotley peninsula.

After attending Northgate School in Ipswich she trained at secretarial college and worked as a short-hand typist and secretary at County Hall, Ipswich, from 1939 to 1946.

In 1947 she married married Reginald Poole, a young Officer of Customs and Excise employed at the Old Custom House, in Ipswich.

After their sons were born, the family moved to Chingford, in east London.

Following retirement, they moved back to the Ipswich area, buying a bungalow in Kesgrave.

Her husband died in 2005 at the age of 86, but Mrs Poole carried on living in her bungalow, part of the All Saints congregation and supported by her sons and the local community.

She moved into Spring Lodge in 2020 following a fall that landed her in hospital.

Activities coordinator Aimee Davey said: "Betty's tender smile, gentle demeanour and quiet determination have endeared her warmly to many, and at an amazing 100 years she is much loved by her family, friends and carers."

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