Hutton Buscel resident Mary Gibson celebrates 100th birthday

One of the village’s best-loved residents, Mary has an amazing capacity for television quizzes, numerous books on puzzles and is an ardent enthusiast of the television game Celebrity Traitors.

Despite her age, she has organised three parties in the village for residents and friends to mark her milestone.

Described by her family as “curious, enthusiastic, independent and determined”, Mary’s life has been one of travelling, education, community service and history.

Born in Kensington, her connection with Hutton Buscel stretches back almost a century, to childhood family holidays spent in the village.

Mary has since travelled extensively in the United States, Singapore, Australia, Brunei and Bali.

After the second world war, Mary trained as a teacher at Froebel College in Roehampton, later teaching at Francis Holland School in Sloane Square, London.

She married her clergyman husband, Robert, in 1954 and they had four children, Caroline, Geoffrey, Nicholas and Fiona, before moving to Guisborough when Robert became the town’s Rector.

There, she became a popular member of the community, where she was involved in the Mother’s Union, Inner Wheel and the Women’s Institute, while also working as a teacher at Newstead Primary School.

With a love of history encouraged by her family in her early years, a lifelong interest in the subject lead her to a passion for giving historical talks and visiting historic landmarks throughout Britain.

Her collection of family artefacts have provided material for many of these talks, among them the family’s Waterloo Dress, which was worn at a ball in Brussels on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.

Subsequently, the dress featured on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

Today, Mary is a grandmother of 12 and a great grandmother of four.

Her eldest daughter Caroline said: “She reads several books a week, does jigsaws on her iPad and follows world affairs.

“She has an extraordinary capacity for life.”