A GREENOCK lady who is young at heart and full of life is celebrating her 100th birthday today.
Former nurse Elizabeth Galbraith is now the oldest resident at Altnacraig Care Home and the staff pulled out all the stops with an afternoon of celebrations.
The loyal Tele reader was over the moon by the surprise afternoon tea and shared with the Tele the secrets to living to a fantastic age.
Betty has indeed stayed active all her life and right up until her early 90s she was still sequence dancing with friends.
Born in 1924 in Port Glasgow, Betty and raised in a family of four, she was a keen student and went on to be a nurse at Larkfield Hospital.
Speaking about reaching 100 Betty said: "It has been a lovely day today, I was taken by surprise!
"The secret to living to 100, is staying as active as you can for as long as you can, and that will lessen the years you are inactive,"
Betty was born in Port Glasgow on the 4th May 1924, the second child of David and Jane MacAlindon. She had an older brother and two younger sisters.
She was schooled at St John’s Port Glasgow and St Columbas in Greenock, trained as a nurse and worked in Larkfield Hospital.
In 1946 she married her husband Alex and they went on to have one son and three daughters, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Alex worked locally for John G Kincaid and Betty stayed at home. Their married life was spent in Greenock, and they lived for over 50 years in Grant Street which Betty remembers with great affection.
Betty and Alex enjoyed 56 years of happy marriage until Alex sadly passed away in 2003.
She spent 16 happy years in retirement in Elliott Court Carwood Street making lots of new friends.
In February 2019 at just short of 95 years old, Betty made the decision to move into Altnacraig, and now at 100 years old she is their oldest resident.
Betty enjoys a very contented life, and has huge fondness for all the dedicated staff who care for her.
Care home support worker Ann marie Kane said: "Betty is a great lady, I love spending time with her, I do her hair and we talk about all the old times.
"She loves talking about her holidays with her family in Millport."
Throughout her life Betty has always very active, and was still regularly attending Sequence Dancing locally until her early 90’s.
At 100-years-old Betty continues to enjoy a zest for life and continues to read the Greenock Telegraph every day.
The proud 100-year-old was also absolutely thrilled to receive a birthday greeting from King Charles and Queen Camilla.
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