100th birthday of Larbert's Caledonian Court resident Grace Muir

The district’s latest centenarian marked the landmark event with a party for family friends, as well as cake, gifts and, despite his busy weekend, a congratulatory card arrived from King Charles.

Grace moved into Caledonian Court care home in Larbert two years ago, but prior to then she had many homes across central Scotland and Fife. But now she is enjoying the care received in the Victoria Road facility.

Born Grace Wilson Baird on May 8, 1923 in Kilsyth, she was the only daughter and middle child of Jeannie and Johnny Baird. She grew up in the town alongside her two brothers, Johnny and Willie.

Grace attended Kilsyth Academy, leaving school when she was 14 and working as a housemaid. She later had jobs in a shoe shop and butcher’s shop in the town, before going to work in an ammunition factory during World War II.

Called up to the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force), Grace spent the remainder of the war at bases in Scotland.

She met her husband, John Muir, when the pair were both travelling by bus and a conversation was struck up. A Kilsyth miner, after a period of courtship he asked Grace to marry him and the wedding took place on Boxing Day 1947.

The couple’s first home was a prefab in Kilsyth with two daughters being born in the town, Jane and Helen, before a job in the Fife mine’s took the family to Cardenden, then Kinglassie where their third daughter Isobel was born.

The family eventually moved back to Kilsyth were John got a job as a storeman. He passed away in 2009, aged 86.

Her family said Grace never stayed long in one house and didn’t collect lots of “clutter” which is probably just as well, as she also had homes in Kirkintilloch, Cumbernauld, Falkirk, Stenhousemuir and Larbert, before moving to the care home when she was 98.

Daughter Isobel Berry said: “Mum used to love going to the bowling green and also the bingo. She’s very sociable and loved meeting her friends to go on bus trips.

"After we were born, her main priority was looking after her family. She would occasionally take a wee job to earn some money for extra things but mainly she was in the home.”

As well as her three daughters, Grace now has eight grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, many of whom joined in today’s party organised by the family and staff at Caledonian Court.

Asked the secret of her mum’s long life, Isobel said that her mum’s mum had lived until she was 96 so perhaps it was in the genes.

She added: “But mum always believed in a healthy diet for us all. Chips were a once a week treat and she would grill rather than fry our food so it probably has helped keep her – and us - healthy.”