A grandmother from Bridgend who beat Covid earlier this year has celebrated her 105th birthday.
Doris Godfrey reached her 105th birthday on December 8, 2021, celebrating the milestone in the Bryn Y Cae Residential Home in Brackla.
"I had a wonderful, wonderful day. I'll never, ever forget it," the great-great grandmother said about the celebrations.
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Born in 1916, Doris has lived through both World Wars. An only child, she was raised by her grandparents in Holland, moving to Penarth when she was 10 years old.
Carly Harris, Doris's grand-daughter said that she spent most of the rest of her life living there, and could not speak English when she first moved to Wales.
She married her husband, Arthur Sherwood Samuel Godfrey, when she was 18 and they stayed together until his death when he was 80.
Doris, a stay-at-home mum, had five children, and now has over 20 grandchildren as well as great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
"She's just incredible, when you think what she's been through. She had Covid last year as well and fought that off," said Carly.
"When you think about it, it really is incredible - 105 years.
"Her life's work is devoted to her grandchildren. The reason she went into a care home was because she broke her leg. She was 99," she added.
Doris says that the most important thing that she's learnt in life is to "take people as they come."
When asked whether she had a secret to having lived such a long life, Doris said she was unsure whether she had one. However, she said that one of her aunts lived to 105 and the other to 108.
Doris caught Covid last year - however Carly says that it was only revealed after she and other patients took a test, as she had no symptoms.
"It was scary, but she escaped luckily with no symptoms. It was more the isolation really and still, going forward, because she's in a care home it's been difficult with restrictions," Carly said.
"I was more worried about her having to isolate than having Covid because she likes to be with people."
Doris said: "I was alright, I think - I'm just very strong willed."
Carly, who runs a wedding cake business, says that she hopes to celebrate her grandmother's birthday with her at the weekend.
"She's being made a massive fuss of at her care home," Carly added.
She said she plans to "make a fuss" of her grandmother when she sees her and to bring her cupcakes to share with her friends.
"She loves a Baileys and had it for her birthday. She loves a Snowball as well - Advocaat and lemonade - for Christmas."
Doris was also a talented swimmer in her youth, and even won a medal for a swimming competition in Roath Park Lake, her grand-daughter Sarah Webber, told WalesOnline.
"She was a very hard worker - and my father - and they gave us a good childhood," her eldest daughter, Janet White, 85, said.
Sarah, Janet's daughter, added: "She always says that there's plenty more life in her, even at 105. She's still got her wit, and she's extremely funny.
"It hasn't surprised me that she's got to this age. When she was in her nineties, she was really sprightly and it was only because she had a fall that she ended up having to go into a home. Before that, you would think she was 20 years younger than what she actually was.
"She is amazing."
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