By Edward Kemp

IT might have been snowing outside but there was plenty of warmth at Dulcie Blake’s 105th birthday celebrations last Wednesday.

Mrs Blake, who has lived in Salisbury for 85 years, spent the day with her family and friends at Bemerton Lodge nursing home.

Born in Milborne St. Andrew in 1904, Mrs Blake was the eldest of eleven children.

She left school at 13 and entered domestic service while spending the rest of her time caring and providing for her five brothers and five sisters.

She met her husband Reginald at a concert in Victoria Park and they married in 1930.

The couple lived in Devizes Road from 1934 to 1997 and had three children Angela, Valerie and Reg.

Mrs Blake also has two granddaughters, two great-granddaughters and a great-grandson.

For more than 20 years Mrs Blake worked on the cheese counter at Robert Stokes.

Celebrating her birthday last week, a smiling Mrs Blake said: “There is no secret to a long life.

“I have had a happy life.”