Watford resident celebrates 102nd birthday (From Watford Observer)

Watford resident celebrates 102nd birthday

12:30pm Friday 11th September 2009

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A care home was filled with music and singing during a very special birthday party.

Residents came together yesterday (Thursday) to wish Violet Pike a happy 102nd birthday, as they sang songs, shook maracas and enjoyed some cake.

Birthday cards filled the lounge of Primrose Lodge, in Essex Road, while balloons were attached to the front door to mark the occasion.

Up until December 2008, however, Mrs Pike, née Crutchfield, had been living on her own at a flat in Cassio Road.

An original East Ender who grew up near Hackney Wick, she came to live in Watford when she in her 20s, after following her cousin to the town to look for work.

She returned to her home town in April 1933, however, when she married “Watford boy” George Pike in Hackney.

During World War Two, Mr Pike's job as a driver for a water company meant he was not called up to serve. This led to Mrs Pike receiving a number of white feathers, which were presented to men not in uniform during the conflict, through her letter box The couple made their home in Shakespeare Street, Watford, where their two daughters Pat and Valerie were born.

And Mrs Pike lived in the same house until she moved to a warden-controlled flat in Cassio Road.

In her working life, she was employed at the Ovaltine factory and was also a dinner lady at a school in Bushey.

Mrs Pike, who has three grandchildren, was joined by her daughter Pat for her party at Primrose Lodge, while the whole family is set to mark the occasion on Sunday.

Watford Borough Council chairman Keith Crout, who attended the party, said: “As I was walking down the road I didn't know where the home was but then I heard all the singing.”

Guru Seegoolam, proprietor of Primrose Lodge, added: “She's one of the model residents in our home.”

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