Card from the King as Walsall's Marion celebrates 100th birthday
A Black Country woman has celebrated her centenary birthday with family – and a card from the King.
Marion Rosina Scarratt celebrated her 100th birthday at her home in Aldridge with her children, including son John, 65, who had flown in from Australia, and with the card from King Charles III.
Carolyn Gough is one of Marion’s three children, and said her mother was “amazed” to get a card from the King.
The 71-year-old said: “She’s had a card from the King and she was amazed – she had one from the Queen when her and my dad were celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary, so she’s very lucky to have two.”
Marion has lived most of her life in Walsall Wood. She was born in Shelfield in 1923, before briefly moving to Essex during World War two at the age of 16, where she recalls seeing Spitfires take off and seeing the city on fire during the Blitz.
Carolyn said her mother had vivid memories of fleeing to an air raid shelter for safety. She said: “One time she was on the bus and when she got off, the air raid siren went – the warden said to her ‘come on, you’ve got to get in the shelter now’ and she told him she couldn’t because her mother was waiting for her and she would be worried.
"And the warden told her to run as fast as she could, so she ran to get in the shelter with her mom and brothers.”
The 100-year-old moved back up to Walsall Wood in 1940, where she went on to contribute to the war effort by working in a nearby factory called Streetly Works to make components for weapons.
And it was then she met her husband Ron, on New Year's Day in 1945, after being set up on a blind date by her friend – the pair went on to get married in 1947 at St John’s Church in Walsall Wood.
Marion, who had three children – Carolyn, John and Andrea-Lynn – also has six grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and two step-great-grandchildren.
Carolyn also spoke of her mother’s memories as a young girl, which Marion remembers clearly despite her advanced years.
She said: “Her favourite memory from when she was little was when she lived in an Elizabethan house in Worcestershire and it was down a little winding track where there was a bridge over the stream."
She said that her older brother had to wait until she was five so that they could both walk to school together over lots of fields and her dad used to take her to look at the bird nests and show her the wild flowers.”
