MUSSELBURGH woman Rita Macdonald (nee Menzies) celebrated her 100th birthday on April 3 at Melville Castle, with family, friends and greetings from the Queen.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Callander LVO OBE TD, Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian, spoke of the “resilience and fortitude” of Rita and the generation that saw the country through the Second World War.
Rita recalled arriving in London from Musselburgh, aged 17, to take up her first post in the Civil Service – only to discover that war had been declared that very morning.
During the Blitz that followed, she remembered long nights of fire-watch duties and seeing bombs drop out of German planes over the city.
Born and raised in Musselburgh, Rita has lived in the same house at Eskbank for nearly 50 years.
She was joined at lunch by her brother, John Menzies, wearing wartime decorations earned in the Fleet Air Arm.
He was also celebrating his birthday on the very same day – though he is a mere youngster of 97!
In Musselburgh, Rita has been a stalwart of the Guides since the 1930s and has been recognised for her long service by the Trefoil Guild – a branch of Girlguiding which offers members personal and social opportunities while supporting Guiding and Scouting.
Rita’s sense of adventure remains as vigorous as ever.
In the 1950s, with her husband Alex, she began a lifelong love of European travel, discovering the byways of the continent in an ancient pre-war Wolseley that spent as much time in French garages as on the road.
Well into her late 90s, she frequently flew abroad to visit her son Alastair, a foreign correspondent with Reuters news agency, as well as driving her own car closer to home.
She is looking forward to “many more adventures” in her second century.
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