King Charles III congratulates Hartlepool woman on turning 105

Maisie Rymer was born on December 21, 1917, in Greenwich, London, before moving to Hartlepool in her 30s when she met her late husband, Eric Rymer, at the Siemens factories they both worked at.

Maisie said: “I went to work one morning and I stood at the gate and saw him and asked him if he was finding his way. When he got back home, he wrote to me and it went from there.”

Part of the Greatest Generation, Maisie has witnessed world wars, global pandemics and immense technological advancements.

Speaking about the Second World War, she said: “I still remember it. It was dinner time and the planes filled the sky. They just kept on bombing.”

A London girl, Maisie soon got used to the raids, recalling: “After a while I said blow it and went back to bed.”

Aged 52, she watched on television as Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the moon.

Reminiscing, she said: “It’s just not something that comes natural to my generation.

"Young people take things as they come but for us, we have to think about things a lot more.”

Speaking about Maisie, her eldest son, Chris Rymer, and wife, Sharon Rymer, who live in Hartlepool, said: “She’s just amazing, she really is.”

Sharon added: “Me and my sisters always call her amazing Maisie.”

Maisie, who now lives at Charlotte Grange Care Home, in Flaxton Street, was one of five children and has two sons of her own, three grandsons and two great-grandchildren.

Eric, who worked as a sea merchant before the war, died in 1974.

Maisie is the only resident at the home to reach 105 and get a card both from Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III.

A spokesperson at Charlotte Grange said: “She is just amazing. She’s so independent and appreciative.”

When asked about the key to a long life, she said: “Determination, but it’s also just one of them things. Some people are built like this, some are not.”

The care and support she receives from her friends and family, as well as her abstinence from smoking and alcohol, may also be the secret to her success.