An Alexandria woman has celebrated her 100th birthday with loved ones.
Margaret Reynolds was presented with a card from King Charles III on her birthday on October 24, with family, friends from St Kessog’s Church, staff at Balquhidder House care home and local dignitaries, including Provost Karen Murray Conaghan, gathering to celebrate her special day.
Margaret was born in 1924 and was the oldest in her family, with one sister, May, and three brothers Martin, Bill, and Jim. A sister, Bridget, passed away in infancy.
She left school early at the age of 14 and began a job at the Woodbank Hotel. It was during her time there that she overheard on the radio that war had been declared in Europe signalling the start of World War II.
Margaret kept herself busy during the war, working both at the hospital in Helensburgh and at Singer factory in Clydebank which was a munitions inspection department.
One of her most vivid memories of the war was the night the Germans tried to bomb the Torpedo factory in Alexandria, as men set fires at the quarry in Bonhill and diverted the Germans to bomb the quarry instead.
She also worked with prisoners of war while she enjoyed going to the local dances as she loved to sing and dance, and she played in the football team as most of the players had gone to war.
It wasn’t until after the war that she met her husband Sam at her new job in the Silk Factory in Balloch. Sam had served in the Armed Forces in the war and was wounded in France.
Margaret had also worked on the Queen’s trousseau for her wedding where she made the undergarments with parachute silk.
Sam and Margaret were to get married in September 1948 but sadly Margaret’s mum passed away four weeks before the wedding, She made Margaret promise her to go through with the wedding, so, the pair got married at 6am on September 4, 1948.
Bridget Reynolds, her oldest daughter, said: “We moved to the wee aluminium houses from Alexander Street in 1953. She had two of us then and my dad had gone back into the Army.
“Then along came Jim and we needed more space, so we moved to Sandbank Crescent, Bonhill, and along came Danny.
“Mum taught me to knit and sew and cook and clean so I would knit one jumper for one of the boys and she would do the other. She knitted fisherman’s shawls for all the babies born in our family. She also made wedding dresses for members of the family and bridesmaids dresses too.”
“When I was 13, mum took a wee job in the distillery bond in the evenings and we had our papa living with us then. Later we moved to Halkett Crescent as mum was working in the hospital by then and that’s when I got married and moved to Dillichip Terrace and my other papa moved in.
“My dad had his first stroke when he was only 50 just after his first grandchild was born. He never really recovered and never worked again having many strokes after that.
“Mum continued to work at the hospital and looked after dad. By this time all of us had left Scotland for work. Me to South Cumbria, Joe to the Armed Forces, Danny to South Cumbria and Jim to Barbados.”
“Mum continued at the hospital for many years where she then retired at 59 to look after my dad.
“On her 80th birthday, my daughter, my husband and I took mum to Rome as she had always wanted to go there. It was a great trip and seeing and being in the Vatican made her very happy as her faith is everything to her.
“We lost dad in 2001 and Mum and my Auntie May who lived round the corner had a wee system; one night mum’s for a wee vodka and the next night Auntie May’s.
“Mum had a single heart bypass and valve replacement when she was 83 and a new hip at 90. This didn’t stop her.”
As well as Margaret’s four children, she has seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
“Most of her family now live in the South Lakes and she has been many times, usually four or five times a year, but always wants to go home to Scotland. I thought when we had her over during Covid that she would want to stay – but as soon as the border was opened, she wanted to go home,” continued Bridget.
“Mum gave up sugar and milk in her tea aged 13 and hasn’t changed. She never eats meat on a Friday and enjoys going to Mass. She would walk across to St Kessog’s every day and back until recently.”
Margaret has made new friends and re-encountered old friends at Balquhidder House.
She takes part in regular weekly Fit-Baw classes and the crochet chatter group.