FAMILY and friends said a fond farewell to centenarian Beryl Bryant at Kingsdown Crematorium on Friday, February 11.

Mrs Bryant passed away peacefully on January 23 at the Great Western Hospital.

Mrs Bryant, of Meadowcroft, Upper Stratton, celebrated her 100th birthday on May 6 last year, the day of the General Election. In her lifetime she had seen 26 General Elections and 19 Prime Ministers, including David Cameron.

She was born Beryl Mapston, the youngest of four siblings and worked for 10 years in local shops. In 1935, she married her sweetheart, Harry Bryant, who was in the RAF. The couple remained together until his death in 1976.

Mrs Bryant lived longer than her brother and two sisters who, all passed away in their 90s.

In 1935, before her marriage, she was chosen to plant a tree in her home, at Chew Magna near Bristol, to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V.

On her 100th birthday, she recalled that the ceremony had been filmed and shown in the village hall. Fifty years later, the BBC showed the film on Points West.

During the war, while her husband was doing his military service, Mrs Bryant looked after evacuees. And in 1941 her son, Richard, was born.

The family moved to Cricklade because of Harry’s work and, when Richard was 15, they moved to Stratton to be near Harry’s new job at Vickers Armstrong.

Mrs Bryant worked for a while at Hailstone House, Cricklade, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s she was a dinner lady at Kingsdown School.

Richard, a professional musician, said: “Mum was a very homely lady and loved food and gardening. She grew flowers as opposed to vegetables and she loved cooking. Cakes were her speciality. She still lived in the same bungalow in Stratton. She used to attend a lot of jazz concerts and had her picture taken with Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball, whom I knew. She’d come to see me play and I’d take her to jazz concerts locally.”

Acker Bilk’s hit record, Stranger on The Shore, was her favourite.

“Mum was always active and would listen to a show on BBC Wiltshire at night and ring her friends and chat. She was well thought of locally. Lots of people thought an awful lot of her and her neighbours were excellent.”

Mrs Bryant rode a bike until she was almost 80, and cooked for herself. She didn’t smoke, seldom drank alcohol and swore by drinking the juice of four lemons every week, getting up at 7.30am daily and going to bed at 6pm.

She leaves her son, Richard, grandchildren Sharon, Mandy, Daryl and Jo, and great grandchildren Ryan, Cydney, Josie and Gabriel.