by Alan Quick

A CREDITON woman, Elsie Clarke, enjoyed a celebration buffet meal with more than 45 family and friends at the London Inn at Morchard Bishop to celebrate her 90th birthday.

She held an open house and welcomed visitors on her birthday, Friday, August 11.

Elsie was born at Gravesend in North West Kent in 1927, where she went to the local school.

She worked in a papermill sorting paper until she was 18, when she contracted TB and spent a year recovering in hospital.

Elsie married Ron Clarke, who lived two doors away and who she had known since childhood, and surprisingly, shared the same surname, but was no relation.

It meant that Elsie did not have to change her surname, which was quite unusual.

The couple lived in Norfleet, Gravesend and they had two children, Alan and Barry , but Alan sadly died when he was aged 53.

Ron had been a lorry driver for much of his life and when he retired aged 65, the couple moved to Devon, living at Bow, Copplestone, Lapford and Crediton.

Elsie has two grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren and said that she enjoys crosswords and watching the soaps on television.