By John Baron
A Pudsey centenarian capped his 100th birthday week with a celebratory meal and a special presentation at the lunch club he attends.
War veteran Derek Webber had an ‘exciting’ week, celebrating with family and friends, as well as receiving a card from the King and Queen.
Every Friday he attends MHA Pudsey and Farsley lunch club at The Britannia pub, and friends sang happy birthday to him and gave him three cheers. He also received flowers, chocolates and a Marks and Spencer voucher.
“It’s very nice to get all this attention,” said Mr Webber, who attends the Friday group because “it gets me out and about and meeting people”.
Mr Webber recalled some of the major events in his life, notably surviving the Bath blitz in World War Two. Over the weekend of 25–27 April 1942, Bath suffered three raids from 80 Luftwaffe aircraft which took off from Nazi occupied northern France.
The raids killed 417 people with, another 1,000 injured. Over 19,000 buildings were affected, of which 1,100 were seriously damaged or destroyed, including 218 of architectural or historic interest.
“It was very scary and I remember being very frightened,” Mr Webber said.
From the age of 18 Mr Webber spent four years serving in the RAF as bomber command ground staff and served ‘in a number of places in this country’. He recalled VE Day, saying he didn’t travel to London to join the celebration but recalled a ‘do’ at the station he was serving.
He came to Pudsey in 1952 to start a position in a solicitors’ office. “Jobs were hard to find when you came out of service,” he added. He settled in Pudsey with his family before retiring in 1990.
“I have enjoyed my time here in Pudsey,” Mr Webber said. “My late wife and I made a life here and were very happy.”
While he couldn’t offer any tips for a long life, he did remark on how the world had changed since he was born in 1925.
“I have lived in all kinds of places in my life, including Hong Kong, which is an incredible place. When you think about it I have seen some amazing changes in the world, particularly with things like technology.”
Mr Webber had special praise for MHA Pudsey and Farsley, which supports older people in the community. “I come here every week and they have been very good to me. You get to meet some great characters and they are very friendly.”
At 100 years old he is still very active and attends a number of groups run by different organisations around Pudsey, including a men’s forum every other Wednesday at Pudsey House.
MHA runs a number of activities, groups, services and signposting for older people aged 55 and over in Pudsey, Farsley and Calverley.
There include shopping trips, lunch club, a Monday social group, a Penny Lane session at Pudsey Congs Cricket Club, karaoke and dominoes among many others.
For more information, call 0113 256 2717 or go to the website.
- Check out WLD‘s what’s on section for more West Leeds events, activities and groups.
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