2:54pm Wednesday 17th March 2010
EDNA Clark enjoyed a idyllic childhood in Burnley where her parents ran a hotel.
Now 100 years old, life still has its surprises for Mrs Clark.
And the latest one was the first appearance at her birthday party, of her newest great grandson at just five weeks old.
The family fortunes took a turn for the worse after the family moved to London to join her father’s relatives and her parents opened a bed-and-breakfast in Kings Cross.
But for Mrs Clark, things could not have turned out better.
She left school at 14 and went to work in a bakery, where one customer bought his bread and stole her heart.
She and her husband Leonard married in 1932 in Highgate, where they both lived.
The couple then moved to Sidcup, where Leonard’s brother and his wife and son were already living.
After spending a year in Burnt Oak Lane, the couple moved to Boundary Road, Blackfen, where Mrs Clark lived until 18 months ago.
Mr Clark was a supervisor at Bexleyheath’s telephone exchange. He died in 1972.
The couple had one daughter and Mrs Clark now has three grandsons and three great grandchildren.
Now physically frail, she still retains her sense of humour and lives in Shaftesbury Court in Selkirk Drive, Erith, which hosted her birthday party.
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