Treasured glimpse into past for Freda's 105th birthday
[gallery] Sat side-by-side behind their desks as five-year-old children Freda and William Pitt probably never could have imagined that their lives would be forever intertwined.
But a photograph from Stonefield Primary School in Bilston, taken in 1912, has become a treasured glimpse into the past for one Wolverhampton family marking a tremendous milestone.
The couple, who shared the same surname although they were not related, met in the classroom and eventually went on to marry.
It is one of a number of photographs which Freda Pitt's family have been looking back through as the "kind and generous" great-grandmother celebrated her 105th birthday.
Mrs Pitt grew up in Mill Street, Bilston and looked after the family home while her mother Minnie helped other members of the family run the Barrel Inn along the road.
Mr Pitt was a teacher at St Leonard's School in Bilston after serving in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. He was a member of the crew on HMS Tynedale that was torpedoed in the Mediterranean.
The ship was attacked while acting as an interceptor during the Allied invasion of Sicily, and helped the rescue of 218 passengers from the Dutch freighter Felix Jan Van Manix. After Mr Pitt finished his service at the end of the war, he and his wife then lived in Wellington Road, Bilston.
Mrs Pitt stayed there until she was 99, which was 20 years after her husband had died. She then went on to live with her son John and his wife Margaret, before moving into the Woodlands Quaker Home in Penn where she celebrated her birthday with a party surrounded by family and friends.
To mark the occasion she received a card from the Queen and was given a specially made cake by staff at the home. She has three grandchildren – Elizabeth, 46, Michael, 45, and Amanda, 42; and four great-grandchildren – Heidi, 12, Lawr-ence, 12, Heather, 11, and Isabel, 10.
Mrs Pitt has never drunk alcohol or smoked, and would always cook proper meals from scratch.
She used to walk around Bilston during her spare time to keep fit, and also made woollen rugs. One of her best creations was a staircarpet that took her months to create.
Margaret said: "We can't believe how good she is for her age. We are absolutely amazed. She is very kind and generous, and very popular. She is doing so well."
