A GREAT grandmother has celebrated her 100th birthday while her first granddaughter toasted her 50th!

Grace Kinghorn was surrounded by family and friends for her 100th birthday at Florabank Care Home, Haddington, last month.

The great grandmother of two was born near Newcastle in 1923, one of four children.

She was only eight years old when her father died, and when the Second World War broke out she was conscripted to work in Coventry, in munitions, at the age of 16.

However, when it was discovered she was the breadwinner for her mother and three sisters, she was allowed to move closer to home and work in an aircraft factory in Newcastle, making parts for Lancaster bombers.

It was there that she met her future husband Basil, a toolmaker. After the war, they married and raised two children, Jeff and Chris.

Widowed at 50, Grace, who has five grandchildren, became an auxiliary nurse at Sanderson Orthopaedic Hospital in Gosforth, north of Newcastle.

She later became a ward administrator at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle.

'She just keeps going!'

One of her highlights was when her first grandchild, Angie, was born on her 50th birthday.

Chris said: “When mum was 80 and my daughter was 30, they went to Iceland. They have always been close.

“When Angie was little, she was looked after by my mum.

“When Angie was six months old, my father died and Angie was probably the saviour for my mum because there was a baby to look after.

“She really rose to the occasion and had a good time with Angie, and Steve when he arrived a couple of years later.”

Grace moved to Haddington in 2008 to be nearer family, who live in the town, and has spent the last 14 years at Florabank Care Home.

Roderick Urquhart, East Lothian’s Lord Lieutenant, was on hand at the care home on the town’s Florabank Road to hand over a card from the King.

Chris described his mum, who has previously overcome Covid-19, as “a battler”.

He said: “I don’t know what it is but she just keeps going!”