A Castle Douglas man celebrated a special milestone on Saturday.
Oliver Gordon Davies – known as Taffy – received a telegram from the Queen to mark his 100th birthday.
The coronavirus lockdown means he hasn’t been seen much but he was taken to Kirkcowan to visit his son before being greeted by other family members – who had compiled a special video of messages – when he returned home.
Great grandsons Nial and Rhyss sang happy birthday in Welsh with great granddaughters Paisley and Baylie in Welsh dress for the occasion.
Taffy was born in Birkenhead near Liverpool on December 19, 1920, and when he was three he moved to live with his grandparents in Anglesey in Wales.
He used to go to church three times every Sunday, staying behind for the evening service as he was a member of the choir. He was well known at Castle Douglas Parish Church where he was a regular until around 10 years ago.
At the age of 24 he was called up to the Army and was stationed at Chattenden Barracks in Kent, where he served with the Royal Engineers.
He was involved in the liberation of Guernsey and Jersey on May 9, 1945, before being posted to Dundrennan. It was there he met Molly Lochrie and they married at Police Close.
They briefly lived in Dalbeattie before moving to Bridge of Dee for 17 years and then on to Castle Douglas.
As well as being a labourer with Robison and Davidson for 20 years, he was also a waiter at both the Thistle Inn and Blue Bell in Castle Douglas – where customers kept putting him off his work asking for demonstrations of his singing talents.
