WATERSMEAD resident, Lily Richardson, celebrated her 100th birthday on June 8th with her family around her.
The second youngest of five girls, Lily was born in 1916 in the small village of Flaxley in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. She started work as a children’s nursery nurse at the nearby Flaxley Abbey, where her father was head gardener and her sister the cook.
At the age of 16 she moved to work at Woodyates near Salisbury where she met her husband Arthur Reginald James Richardson (known as Reg) the gardener. They were married on 27th December, 1941 while Reg was on leave from the Army.
After war ended their first house was in Norton in Gloucestershire, followed by several more moves to tied cottages of large houses. They settled in Bradford on Avon, which was Reg’s home town, and Reg was the gardener of the Bradford on Avon maternity hospital providing all their vegetables, while his father was gardener of the District Hospital (now the Leigh Park Hotel).
They had two daughters, Shirley and Mary, with five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
After Reg retired they continued to live in Bradford on Avon and celebrated their Diamond Wedding on 27th December 2001 with a party and a card from the Queen. Lily continued to live in Bradford on Avon after her husband died in 2004. She celebrated her 100th birthday with a family party at the Watersmead Care Home on June 11th, with another card from the Queen.
