A DEVIZES woman who has spent all her life in Wiltshire had a day to remember as she celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by family and friends.

Gwen Williams celebrated the milestone at Cepen Lodge care home in Chippenham on Friday where she has lived since last year.

Born on May 12, 1917, in Devizes as Gweneth Alice May, she was the middle child of five sisters and was educated at St Peter’s School and attended St Mary’s Church where she was a member of the bellringing team.

Her working life began as a maid in service and during the war she worked in the laundry at the hospital in Semington, as well as at Hinchley’s and Savages making transformers and eventually ran the civilian canteen for the Royal Army Pay Corps during their last years at Devizes Barracks.

A keen lover of music, she became a singing member of the Devizes Philharmonic Society, the Townswomen’s Guild and one of the first to join the Devizes Light Operatic.

She married Frank Waite in 1944 and the couple became active members of the Gardening Society in Devizes after their retirement.

They had two children, Stuart and Mary, and in the 1970s she became a grandmother to Matthew, who lives in Ohio and Diggory, who lives in Aylesbury.

In due course she became a great-grandmother to Alexandra, Nicholas, Ruby and Myrtle.

After Mr Waite died in 1996 she re-married in 2002 to Frank Williams, renewing a friendship from their youth.

They moved to Chippenham where Mrs Williams became a regular worshipper at St Andrew’s Church before she moved into Cepen Lodge in June last year.

She was joined by her husband in November until he died in January this year, only four months short of his 100th birthday.