A glass of sherry a day does the trick for centenarian Bina
100 year old Albina Wilson, from Leighton Bromswold, - Credit: Archant
A Leighton Bromswold resident has celebrated her 100th birthday by recalling how much the village has changed over the decades.
Albina Wilson, known as Bina, moved to the village in 1936 with her family and has only moved away once, for two years, since then.
“When I first moved here we had it all, the buses came through here, we had a post office, a butchers, a bakers, a lace makers and the pub but now we just have the pub,” said Mrs Wilson.
During the Second World War she described the village as being completely different as there were no lights, no toilets and no television.
“The soldiers came around and took everything that was metal including the metal railings from around the war memorial and if we had metal frying pans they also came round to take them to make things for the war effort.”
Throughout the war Mrs Wilson and her husband welcomed a number of evacuees from London, who were sent to them to avoid the bombings.
Born on August 30, 1916, Mrs Wilson was one of 10 children and went onto work at Chivers and Sons canning factory, in Huntingdon.
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She met her husband, Arthur, just months after moving to the village when they were playing football with friends, in the dark, on November 5.
The pair went onto wed at Huntingdon Register Office in December 1938; a marriage which lasted more than 50 years.
Mrs Wilson puts her long life down to being grateful and content with her lot, but she also enjoys her daily glasses of sherry.
“I have a glass of sherry at 11am and 7pm and I have been having it for a long time – why not?”
To celebrate her milestone Mrs Wilson’s friends and family hosted a party.
She was joined by her niece Judy, 78, along with her 98-year-old sister-in-law and the two-year-old daughter of her great niece.
