A FORMER hairdresser is looking forward to seeing her family and friends when she marks her 102nd birthday next month.
Iris Webb, who has recently moved from her own Tavistock home to a residential home in Yelverton, is particularly looking forward to seeing her son Martin when he comes to West Devon to stay for her birthday on Monday, December 2.
She said: “’I will be going for a meal with family and friends and Martin will be coming to see me which I’m really looking forward to.”
Iris was born and brought up with her parents Harry and Elizabeth, and lived in Tavistock all her life, apart from three years working for Marconi making electrical scientific instruments. She attended Tavistock Brethren Church with her mum and was educated at Dolvin Road Primary School. She returned to Dolvin Road school to mark her 100th birthday to see how things had changed and as part of the Tavistock Area Support Services (TASS) research project on social history.
She said had a happy childhood and was proud to be the head girl and May Queen when the Maytime celebrations were big in the town and included a street parade. Boys and girls were segregated until morning assembly. She also remembers the headteacher Mr Treloar as a very nice man who played the piano and she particularly liked Mr Hayden who gave was ‘naughty’ giving hints to children to help during exams. She trained with hair dressers Richards in the building now the Book Stop book store.
She has fond memories of family outings in the tiny red three-wheeled Morgan car, of sitting on the one bench seat between her parents, of wiping a raw potato on the windscreen to stop condensation, of ongoing engine repairs with chewing gum, and of her mum and dad sharing windscreen wiper duties as the car had none. When Iris grew bigger they bought a bigger Ford Eight.
She has survived her beloved husband Doug (a printer for the Tavistock Times) who she met through the church when he was boy and sang in St Eustachius’ church choir. They married in St Eustachius’ in 1949 after he had joined the Army and served in Europe and in the US. She remembers having the luxury of white icing on her wedding cake after wartime restrictions. The couple honeymooned in London, seeing the celebrated Festival of Britain and a couple she lodged with when with Marconi who ‘treated her like family’.
By coincidence Doug met Tavistock vicar the Rev Lempnere as a missionary when they were both looking after Scouts in Trinidad. Doug was serving in the Army at the time.
Iris said: “The couldn’t believe it. They’d both come separately to the US on different missions and both met in Trinidad of all places. Doug told me how amazed and pleased he was.”
Iris and Doug built their own home on Pixon Lane to their specifications, including a large kitchen to include her mother in a wheelchair, with craftsmen friends. Her son Martin became a teacher, taught and was head of English.
