Beryl Hughes celebrated her 100th birthday with tea party with Scarborough Mayor

Great-great grandmother, Beryl Hughes celebrated her birthday with a tea-party, which was attended by borough mayor Cllr Eric Broadbent.

Mrs Hughes is mum to daughters Val and Jen, and has three grandchildren, Nigel, Jayne and Helen, two greatgrandchildren, Ebony and Hetty, and two great-greatgrandchildren, Isabelle and Benjamin.

Born in Scarborough on February 22 1922, she attended Central High, and after she finished school went on to become a Milliner at a hat and gown shop on Westborough.

During World War Two, Mrs Hughes worked as a nurse at the former St Mary’s Hospital.

In 1943, she married her husband Tom, who was fighting in the war and had been stationed in Scarborough.

Jenny Watkinson, Mrs Hughes’ daughter, said: “They met at the Olympia on the Foreshore which was a dancehall. My mum spotted my dad and thought ‘wow he’s a good dancer’ and she had a dance with him, and he asked if she was coming the following night because he was stationed here during the second world war, and she said she was and he said he was.

“It was really crowded and there was a balcony you could look out onto the dancefloor and she looked and looked and couldn’t see him so she thought she’d been stood up.

“The following day, she was in town and my dad was walking up town and they bumped into each other. He said ‘Where were you last night?’ and she said ‘well where were you?’ and they were both there but it was so busy they didn’t see each other.

“Things took off from there and they went out together.”

Mrs Hughes and her husband enjoyed ballroom dancing together up until they were both in their 80s, and they liked to visit the Scarborough Spa Ballroom.

They were married for 62 years, until Mr Hughes passed away aged 85.

Later on in her career, Mrs Hughes worked at the Futurist Theatre as a usherette, and then worked in the sweet kiosk.

Jenny Watkinson said: “Mr Kaplan Jr said she was allowed to knit once the lights were out, and she was busy knitting one night when some fishermen came in late.

“She pushed her knitting into her pocket quickly, went up the stairs with her torch showing them to their seats and when she got them up the stairs, a fisherman turned around and said ‘there you are love, you dropped your ball of wool, I’ve wound it up behind you up the stairs!”

Mrs Hughes enjoys knitting, and every week reads The Scarborough News.

She is currently living at Ravensworth Lodge residential home on Belgrave Crescent, and was excited to receive a card from the Queen commemorating her 100th birthday.