Family and friends gathered to celebrate a special milestone birthday for Leazes Homes tenant Isabel Hutchinson.
Leazes Homes tenant Isabel Hutchinson celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends
Staff at Kilbourn House in Kenton, Newcastle upon Tyne helped to organise a small party for Isabel who celebrated turning 100 with her family and friends.
Guests were entertained by a singer followed by a buffet with birthday cake, cards, presents and flowers. Karbon colleagues Pauline Whaley and Sarah Hilditch and the Comfort Call Care Team organised the party for Isabel.
Commenting after the party, Isabel said it was the best birthday she had ever had and said she thoroughly enjoyed her day.
Born on 19 November 1924, Isabel lived in the flat above the General Dealers that her mum ran on Church Street in Wallsend.
She worked at Scott & Turners of Gallowgate where they made Andrew’s Liver Salts, National Heath baby milk and baby juices. During WW2, the factory made the Pacific Emergency Packs for soldiers which contained emergency rations, cigarettes, biscuits and sweets.
Isabel joined the Women’s Land Army during WW2 and was sent to work on a farm in South Wales where she picked potatoes and threshed corn.
During WW2, she exchanged letters with a young sailor called Arthur who served as a gunner on a mine ship. She recollects meeting up with Arthur during a rare visit home where they went to the pictures and the Hopping’s at Newcastle’s Town Moor.
Arthur returned home later than most at the end of WW2 as his ship helped to bring back home the Prisoners of War. They later married and went on to have two children, a boy called Jim and a girl called Linda. Isabel has two grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Isabel now lives at Kilbourn House, a Leazes Homes assisted living scheme and has lived there for over nine years.
She really enjoyed her special day and said being positive, living well and helping others when you can is what makes for a long and happy life.
Leazes Homes is part of the Karbon Homes Group, with Karbon providing services on its behalf after it joined them as a subsidiary in June 2024.
Karbon colleagues Pauline Whaley and Sarah Hilditch organised the party for Isabel. They said: “It was wonderful to help organise a party for Isabel and to see her enjoy her special day and celebrate her 100th birthday with family and friends. We all had a great day.”