Diocesan News
Cloughfern Parishioner Celebrates 100th Birthday
Birthday girl May Duff with the Rev David Lockhart, Cloughfern Parish, and the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Rev Alan Abernethy.
Congratulations to Mrs May Duff, a parishioner of Cloughfern, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Sunday September 27.
May enjoyed a party with family and friends, and the next day the celebrations continued when she welcomed her rector, the Rev David Lockhart, Cloughfern Parish, and the Bishop of Connor, the Rt Rev Alan Abernethy, into her Whiteabbey home.
David presented May with a card and a cake from the parishioners at the Church of the Ascension, and he and the Bishop spent time chatting to May and her daughter Muriel Jones about May’s long and interesting life.
May spoke fondly of her late husband Billy, who died 22 years ago, and told the Bishop how she had been buried under the rubble of her family home when Hogarth Street was destroyed in the Blitz in April 1941.
“My house was the last to come down, a Navy man pulled me out,” May remembered.
May shared memories of her life since she moved into her home in Whiteabbey 40 years ago, of friends and happy times in Cloughfern Church, which she remembered being established in a hut that served as a community hall, now gone.
When asked the secret of her long and very healthy life May revealed she had an aunt who had lived to 100, and her own mother had died at 95, so it may be in her genes. But she also said she had never drank alcohol or smoked in her life!
May only gave up bowling with the Cloughfern Parish Club two years ago, and she is looking forward to joining her friends in the parish for the Harvest Thanksgiving Service next Sunday.
For further information contact Karen Bushby, Connor Diocesan Communications Officer, on 028 9082 8874 or 07766 103880 or email [email protected]
For further information please contact:
Connor Diocesan Communications Officer
Contact Details
Karen Bushby
028 4066 0798
07766103880
[email protected]