A party was held at Cranhill Nursing Home in Bath on Bank Holiday Monday to celebrate the 107th and 100th birthdays of two residents.
107-year-old Joan Long and 100-year-old Kathleen Crowley
The celebrations at the Weston Road home were for Joan Long, who was born on 17th August 1917 and worked as an engineer, including on Concorde, and Bath born and bred Kathleen Crowley, whose 100th birthday was on the day of the party.
Joan was born in Ealing in London, later moving to Esher in Surrey. Her father William Gentry-Franklin was a chartered accountant in the City of London and Joan was educated at Stonar House School when it was located near Sandwich in Kent, rather than Atworth in Wiltshire where it is today.
Joan married Edward (John) Long, also a chartered accountant, in 1936. During World War Two she was evacuated to Llanberis, in the shadow of Mount Snowdon in North Wales with the Samoyed dogs that she used to breed and show.
Joan had two sons. Alan was born in 1944 and Brian in 1946. Brian said that his father died in the 1950s, after which Joan became a precision engineer, working for several firms including Desoutter, who made high-speed drills and other air-driven tools.
The party in the garden of Cranhill
In 1966 Joan moved to Bath to work at Hygate Gears (the site of the factory is now student accommodation) and was there until her retirement. Her final assignment was engaged with the nose wheel gear retraction system for Concorde.
Brian said that reflecting on her work, his mum had said: “It’s amazing really, when I was born, aeroplanes were mostly made of wood and canvas, held together with string and sealing wax! Here I am working on gears for supersonic airliners! How times have changed.”
Joan retired to Exmouth in Devon, but Brian said she moved across the estuary to Teignmouth, largely because of East Devon’s “ridiculous anti-dog policies”.
Joan is a life-long supporter of the National Canine Defence League (now the Dogs Trust) and was a well-known figure walking her dogs around Teignmouth until her knee gave out and she fell and injured herself at the age of 102.
Brian said that Joan can remember the pandemic after the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the first jet airliner and “so much more”.
He observed that when Queen Elizabeth died, it was said that most people had only ever known one monarch, but his mother had commented: “Pah! I shall have known six by the time I go!” (George V, Edward VII, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III).
Brian added that his mother is pleased to be back in Bath and is being well looked after at Cranhill.
Chloe’s Mobile Farm at the party
Kathleen Crowley was born Kathleen Banks in Twerton, the eldest of eight children, on 26th August 1924.
She worked for the MoD at Copenacre, at Ware’s Nursery and as a bus conductor before getting married at 25 to Douglas Crowley and moving to Widcombe.
The couple had one daughter, Sue. Douglas died when he was 75 and since then Kathleen, who has three step-grandchildren and seven step-great-grandchildren, has travelled widely with her family.
Kathleen was living independently in an annexe next to her daughter’s house in Combe Down before suffering a small stroke and moving to Cranhill almost two years ago.
Sue praised the staff at the nursing home, saying they are “wonderful”.
The fine weather meant Monday’s party could be held in Cranhill’s garden. There was entertainment courtesy of the ‘Elderly Brothers’ from Timsbury, who sang songs and encouraged the residents to join in.
Chloe’s Mobile Farm, based in North Wiltshire, brought along donkeys Norris and Norman, Bear the Shetland pony, and chickens, guinea pigs and rabbits for the residents and guests to interact with.
