A top whist player has celebrated her 100th birthday.
And Kirkburton woman Molly James, who is almost blind and turned 100 on October 15, thinks the game of trickery is the reason she is “still here today.”
A veteran player who had her first game 73 years ago, she is a regular at Shelley Village Hall where she plays every week despite being totally blind in her left eye and with bad eyesight in her right.
“There’s a great atmosphere and I love playing whist, especially when I win”, joked Molly.
“And I’m not frightened of anyone I play against either.
“I think playing it is why I’m still here today as it keeps my brain sharp, along with the company I get there.
“I started playing in Lepton when I lived on Highgate Lane with my young family.
“My husband Henry, a miner, used to let me go play games in the village on Tuesday nights and I’ve not stopped playing since then.”
It is not the only activity that feisty Molly still enjoys.
“I love to travel,” she confided. “One of my daughters, Sandra, was an air hostess and she got cheap flight tickets for me so I would go to Vancouver where she lived twice a year.
“I think it’s a fabulous place and I would have retired there if she was an only child.
“When she comes back we go travelling together and I’ve been on 13 cruises to places like Alaska and the Mediterranean.”
Sanda, 70, is one of Molly’s four children, along with Patricia, 75, Vincent, 72 and Carole, 69.
“They’re all wonderful,” said Molly. Carole is my rock because she brings me hot meals at the weekends.
“Patricia rings me every day and Vincent comes to see me on Sundays to see what I’ve broken that week.”
Molly is strongly independent.
She added: “I love to keep active because it’s what keeps me going. I do all my own cooking cleaning and washing.
“It was much harder when I had just got married.
“We were living in Briestfield in a farm cottage that had no central heating, hot water or electricity.
“We only had one lamp and had to cook and dry everything by the fire.
“When I had my children I had to wait until my husband came home after work on Saturdays to go shopping and came back laden down with bags.
“People have no idea how hard it was but we didn’t mind because that was all we knew. I’m just glad things have changed for the better.
“Now I get the bus into Huddersfield to do my shopping and to have a drink if I’m feeling lonely, where I get to talk to lots of people.”
She celebrated her birthday with friends and her family at Shelley Village Hall ... with a game of whist.
Molly added: “I also received my card from the Queen, the second I’ve received because my husband and I were married 63 years – I’m collecting them.”
