Great grandmother from Kings Langley celebrates 100th birthday (From Watford Observer)

Great grandmother from Kings Langley celebrates 100th birthday

5:26pm Wednesday 28th July 2010 in

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A birthday card from the Queen stands proudly in the bedroom of Kings Langley resident Mina Burrows, who celebrated her 100th birthday today (Wednesday).

Balloons filled the lounge of Friars Mead, an Abbeyfield home in Rockcliffe Avenue, where Mina was joined by her family and friends for a birthday party in her honour.

Mina was born in London, the second of five children to an American mother and Austrian father. However, it was his nationality that led to the young family being split up for the duration of World War One.

“One day, the police came to the door and asked for my father,” Mina said.

“My parents met in London. She was a receptionist of a big hotel and he was a chef there. They got married.

“When the war began, he was interned to the Isle of Man for five years. My mother packed up and took us to live with my grandmother in Austria.

“My mother didn't know my grandmother. But she took her in and made a home for her. But as soon as she could, she found a place of her own.

“When the hostilities were over, my dad came home. It was very difficult because we hadn't seen him for many years.”

Mina grew up in Austria, where she went to primary school, high school and business school. She was fluent in two languages.

“I made a life for myself,” she said. “My brother became a dentist. I became an interpreter. My sister became a dressmaker. Another brother became a famous baker. My youngest brother was an electrician. We all made good use of our lives.”

Mina returned to England when she was 21, living in Camden Town, north London.

And it was at a political meeting held for Oswald Mosley that she met her future husband, Harold Burrows, a printer's compositor who worked in Fleet Street during the early part of his career.

They married on August 11, 1940, and set up home in Ealing, where Mina's brother opened a dentist's surgery.

The couple had two children, Clive and Heather, and Mina now has five granddaughters and six great grandchildren.

Harold was called up to the Army during World War Two and he spent five years serving in the Middle East.

Mina said: “What I resented was because I had an accent I was called a foreigner. But I had to grin and bear it. I made many nice friends.”

The couple lived in Ealing until 1976, the year Harold died. And after a short while, Mina moved to Chalmers Court, a sheltered accommodation complex in Rickmansworth, where she lived for about 28 years.

She moved to her current home at Friars Mead two years ago.

Among her hobbies were cycling and swimming. She was an accomplished skier, taking winter holidays in Austria and Norway. She also spent summers in Yugoslavia and Spain, went on safari in Africa and once visited Rome.

She would also make soft toys for her children and grandchildren using her sewing skills.

Asked if there was a secret to living to 100, she said: “I haven't got a secret. It's just one of those things.”