An astonishing Hull woman has turned 100 years old on VE day and credits her long life to hard work and dancing.
Iris Elsom said she has “never been one for making a fuss” but enjoyed socialising with everyone. Alexandra Court Care Centre, where she now lives, hosted a birthday party for Iris.
She received many flowers and flowers, and a card from King Charles to commemorate her 100th birthday.
Born in Courtney Street, east Hull, Iris remembers having a happy home life and a loving mother and father and a sister five years older, called Vera. As a young woman, she died her hair red which earned her the nickname ‘Rusty’.
(Image: Supplied)
Iris said: “My sister taught me how to dance. She was a good dancer and I used to look at her and when we got home I used to say to her, How do you do that? Teach me!’
“‘And she said ‘I’m tired now, tomorrow I’ll teach you how to dance.'”
Vera taught Iris all the steps she knew at home. Iris remembers her big sister calling out to their father and saying, ‘Just look at our Iris!’
It became a lifelong passion for Iris who used to go out to a music hall on Beverley Road where she was never short of a dance partner. “When you walked in, you looked and you had your pick,” she recalled.
“They’d say ‘Do you want to dance?’ and I’d say, ‘Of course I do!'”
Iris began working at Reckitt in Hull when she was just 14 years old and stayed there throughout The Second World War, helping to supply the front lines with “big metal things”.
She said: “I loved it there and I loved everybody there, everybody got on. It was like one big family.”
After the war, Iris got a new job helping to retrain soldiers so they could get work. Her advice for a long life is to never stop working and keep busy and, of course, to dance as often as possible.