Surprise party as Motherwell woman celebrates 100th birthday

Motherwell woman Helen Bruce was delighted to be the recipient of a surprise party as she celebrated her 100th birthday.
Helen Bruce is joined by South Lanarkshire provost Ian McAllan and Deputy Lieutenant of Lanarkshire Terence Currie as she celebrates her 100th birthdayHelen Bruce is joined by South Lanarkshire provost Ian McAllan and Deputy Lieutenant of Lanarkshire Terence Currie as she celebrates her 100th birthday
Helen Bruce is joined by South Lanarkshire provost Ian McAllan and Deputy Lieutenant of Lanarkshire Terence Currie as she celebrates her 100th birthday

Mrs Bruce was joined by four generations of her family and friends, while South Lanarkshire provost Ian McAllan and Deputy Lieutenant of Lanarkshire Terry Currie also dropped by.

Now living in High Blantyre, Mrs Bruce was born in Motherwell in 1919 and stayed there until just four years ago when she moved to be closer to her daughter.

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Helen first left home to work as a domestic servant, but the outbreak of the Second World War saw her make a dramatic change as she joined the Windsor Engineering Company in Hillington and worked on assembling aircraft parts.

She later went on to work as a counter clerk with the Post Office.

Helen and her husband Bobby were together for 31 years, she has a daughter, Ann, a grandson, Kenneth, granddaughter, Susan, and two great grandchildren, Callum and Zara.

She was an elder in South Dalziel Parish Church for 35 years and is the longest-serving member of Lanarkshire Philatelic Society.

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The club put a message of congratulations on their website and Mrs Bruce and still enjoys attending meetings when she can.

Provost McAllan said: “It was delight to be involved in the surprise birthday celebration for Helen and to meet four generations of her family, she is a very sprightly 100-year-old and was great fun to meet.”