Happy to be here says Doris, 100

2:10pm Thursday 28th August 2008

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A woman who had a job at the age of 12 is celebrating being a century old.

Friends and family surrounded Doris Barker yesterday on her birthday.

David Stoddart Gardens in Ferndale, where she lives was decked out with posters and food was laid out for the special occasion.

Doris said: “I am very happy to be here. I have just kept going throughout my life.

“There are just two of us left out of a family of 13.

“I left school at 12 and had to work the same night. I had to work as it was one child less for my mother to feed.”

Doris, who is originally from Guernsey, moved to London when she answered an advertisement for a maid at a rabbi’s house.

She married her late husband George in 1935, and gave up her job as he felt there was no need for his wife to work.

She concentrated on raising her only son Brian in West London while George worked for the Southern Electricity Board.

“My mother never forgot where she came from,” said Brian, who lives in North Swindon.

“She was always conscious of money and never bought anything extravagant.

“As a child she used to go to the butchers with a few coins and get the off-cuts from the butcher – that is what the family survived on.”

In the 1960s Doris took a job as a cleaner in Marks and Spencer to keep her busy.

When she was in her 70s she sand her husband started travelling and one of her cherished memories is a trip to New York.

She moved to Swindon after 60 years in Hanwell to join her granddaughter Jo, 39, who arranged for her to move to David Stoddart Gardens.

Brian also moved to Swindon to be closer to family after spending time in Canada with his son Alex.

He is proud of his mother’s longevity. “I think it is fantastic she has reached this age,” he said.

“I always knew she would as she has always been a very lively person. I think she has very strong genes.”