Great great grandmother whose home was bombed in the Second World War marks 100th birthday

Mary celebrated the milestone occasion on Sunday, July 5, at Abbeyvale Care Centre in Blackhall Colliery which is still in lockdown to protect residents and staff from coronavirus.

But Mary celebrated in style with a cake, large buffet and card from the Queen.

And around 20 members of her loving family gathered in the car park to wave and wish her a happy birthday through the window.

Born on Hartlepool's Headland in 1920, Mary was brought up by her two grandmothers after her mother died when she was 13.

In 1939 she married Harland Wears, a miner from Blackhall.

During the war they followed Mary's father Jim Fowler to Coventry where he had gone for work following the Great Depression.

Mary’s daughter Lorraine Cambridge recounted: “They were bombed out of two houses so they came back.

“They were there when the cathedral got hit.”

She and Harland set up home in Blackhall where they lived in the same house from then on.

They had two children; daughter Lorraine Cambridge, 78, and son Harley, 68, named after his dad.

As well as bringing up a family, Mary had a number of jobs including in service for a dentist after leaving school and in a cinema during the war.

Later she spent many happy years at a clothes factory in Blackhall where she worked into her seventies.

Harland senior passed away in 2000, but Mary continued to live independently until only a year ago when she moved into Abbeyvale.

Lorraine added: “She didn’t want to leave the village. Mam has always looked after herself and is wonderful for her age.

“She has just always kept going. She loves it at Abbeyvale. The staff are lovely and she gets all the help she wants.

“Nothing is too much trouble.”

Mary is now head of a five-generation family with two granddaughters; Karla Pearson and Colette Cambridge, four great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.

She also has a half brother, Jim Fowler, in Spain who she has kept in touch with.

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