A WELLINGTON woman celebrated her 100th birthday with a 1940s themed tea party for family and friends in the town’s Old Vicarage supported living home on Thursday (February 6).

Elizabeth Wilkinson moved to the town in 1992 following the death of her husband Major John Wilkinson when they were living in Cove, near Tiverton.

Her son, Tim Wilkinson, who lives in Stogumber, told guests at the party how Mrs Wilkinson was descended from the family of Sir Frederick Lobnitz, a Danish man who became a British Government Minister for Munitions during the First World War.

Sir Frederick’s family started a shipbuilding firm in Glasgow which made vessels used in the construction of both the Suez and Panama Canals.

Elizabeth Wilkinson with her son Tim Wilkinson, who recounted stories from her life during a 100th birthday celebration tea party.
Elizabeth Wilkinson with her son Tim Wilkinson, who recounted stories from her life during a 100th birthday celebration tea party. (Tindle News)

Mr Wilkinson said his mother had been brought up in a wealthy and privileged family and it was instilled in her that she must give back to society.

He said that was why Mrs Wilkinson had worked hard all her life, right into her nineties when she was still helping to clean Wellington’s St John’s Parish Church and volunteering in the town’s St Margaret’s Hospice Shop.

One of her co-workers in the charity shop told the Wellington Weekly: “Liz was one of the best-loved ladies there.

“Everybody knew our Liz and everybody relied on her.”

Mrs Wilkinson also worked with the Canals Trust to help restore local waterways and she supported children with disabilities.

Mr Wilkinson said: “Wherever there was a job mum could do, she wanted to do it and to help.”

Mrs Wilkinson joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens) at the age of 20 and was a Naval plotter in Chatham before crossing the English Channel to work in Ostend, Belgium, for a short time before the end of World War Two.

After the war, she became a housekeeper in the Savoy Hotel, London, and three years later she took a job with the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service which took her to Singapore and Hong Kong to look after the families of Ghurka troops.

Some of the guests attending a 100th birthday party for Elizabeth Wilkinson in The Old Vicarage, Wellington.
Some of the guests attending a 100th birthday party for Elizabeth Wilkinson in The Old Vicarage, Wellington. (Tindle News)

It was during her time in the Far East that she met Major Wilkinson, who was serving with the Ghurkas.

The couple’s return to the UK was via a spell living in Berlin, where they witnessed the East Germans build the Berlin Wall.

Once back in Britain they bought a small farm near London where they farmed pigs for about 20 years.

Mrs Wilkinson then became a cook and taught domestic cooking, before turning her attention to gardening and selling the farm to move to Devon, from where they travelled extensively around the world.

Her father was Royal Navy Capt Laurence Palmer, who received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for gallantry during the Battle of Jutland.

The tea party was organised by staff of the Abbeyfield Society, which manages the Old Vicarage and also a second Wellington home, Ivy House, in Corams Lane.

Asked about any secrets to living a long life, Mrs Wilkinson praised the Abbeyfield staff, saying: “I am very well looked after here.”