Joanna turns 100 and gets card from the King

Plymouth resident Joanna Bryant was thrilled to receive a birthday card from King Charles and Queen Camilla when she celebrated her 100th birthday last week.

Joanna marked the occasion with a tea party at the dementia care home where she lives in St Budeaux, Plymouth.

Sarah McCaffrey, deputy manager at Butterfly Lodge, said: “Joanna is a remarkable woman who was an accomplished pianist and self-taught artist.

“She was in her seventies when she first flew in an aeroplane, and then she went all the way to Australia to spend five weeks with her brother in Surfers’ Paradise.

“The birthday card from the King and Queen delighted her, and she was also very pleased with the three strawberry and cream sponge cakes that our clever chef Karen Worth baked for her in the shape of 100.”

Joanna was born Joanna Cock on 20 July 1923 near Penzance, and was the eldest of five children.

She moved to Truro in the late 1950s where she and husband Frank, who were married for 40 years, owned and ran a guest house during the following decade. 

She later had a variety of part-time jobs including working in a child day care nursery and some charity shops, and belonged to several church-related groups as well as being an active member of the U3A.

Joanna has two children, Bradley and Michelle, and two grandchildren, Dom and Matt.

Butterfly Lodge is run by award-winning dementia care-provider Camelot Care, who have other care homes in Bridgwater, Wellington and Yeovil in Somerset www.camelotcare.co.uk