Littlehampton care home's 'longest serving resident ‘Jean Armitage celebrates her 100th birthday

Jean was born and lived in Shipley West Yorkshire, with her mother and father. She got a scholarship and went to the local Grammer school and gained the school certificate and the higher certificate.

When she left school war had broken out and so she went at the age of 15 and did a years office training. She worked at the Bristol Aeroplane factory where she worked in the office, when the war ended she was made redundant, and got a job at Martin Dyers cleaners which she hated and only lasted three months.

Without the agreement of her family she then decided to go into nursing, which she attended Bradford Royal Infirmary and took her General training which then lead on to do her midwifery training in Scotland, after a little while she decided to do her training as a health visitor.

She married her husband Percy and they had a daughter Nancy, through her married life she nursed her mother and mother in law until they passed.

Her husband developed dementia and had problems with his eyes so she nursed him until he passed.

In 2005 she came on holiday down to Rustington and then decided she would come and live here to be near Nancy.

Jean told me that she liked to walk, so she walked from Rustington to Worthing over nine miles. When she told her daughter she asked if she had gone to the end of the pier and had her sandwich, but Jean had said no, her daughter said well you didn’t walk to Worthing, so she decided to do it properly. She walked from Rustington to the end of the pier and ate her sandwich, before catching the bus home.

Jean came to us in August 2018, and today we are celebrating her 100th birthday with us today. She had lunch with her special friends and had a cake made by our Chef Kelly, her favourite flavour coffee and walnut.

Jean wrote this: “All the staff are thoughtful and caring, we have meals of our choice, outings and a range of activities. We are constantly asked what we would like to make us happy and that as far as I’m concerned is worthy of a gold medal.”