A WOMAN who worked for several decades as a nurse at the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven has turned 100.

Gladys Clark was born in 1921 in Montrose, Scotland.

She met her husband, George, in 1943, when he was placed in the Montrose area for his army training - he was in the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).

They married at St John's Church in Workington in July 1944. The couple had two children, Graham and his younger brother Neil.

George, a 'Workington lad', was a steel worker, while Gladys trained as a psychiatric nurse and returned to work at the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven from 1960 until 1983 when she retired.

Son Neil said she enjoyed her work on the psychiatric ward. "It was a ward that people didn't know much about," he said. "She made some very good friends among the staff there. They were a bit of a club."

She and George ran the Railway Club in Workington where there was dancing, singing and bingo, and could also often be found socialising on Friday and Saturday nights at 'The Ranch'. The Ranch, off Mossbay Road, was opened in the 1950s as a social club for workers at the British Steel plant, Moss Bay. At its peak it had 3,500 members, and in many ways was the social centre of the town.

George passed away in 1996, a year after their golden wedding anniversary. Their first son Graham, who emigrated to Canada, passed away in 2019.

Gladys has seven grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren.

Neil said: "The Clarks of Mossbay are quite a clan." Neil was the first in the family to go to university - a fact of Gladys "takes terrific pride" in.

When asked of his mother's tips for a long life, he added: "Not smoking, but drinking little and often!"

Gladys, who currently lives in Distington, had a "very happy" party on Saturday at home with friends and family , as well as a celebration on her birthday yesterday.