Birthday celebrations as Florence Raven from Fenland turns 100

A Manea-born great-grandmother has celebrated a milestone birthday with a family gathering and a card from the King.

Florence Raven, was born on February 5 1924 at Welches Dam in Manea and she was the youngest of four siblings. She had three brothers: Steve, John, and Bert as well as two half-siblings Joe and Violet.

Her dad died when she was three and she lived with her aunt in Chatteris when she was young.

Florence’s first taste of working life was as a maid to a butcher in Sutton, but when the Second World War began she joined the WRAF and trained at Morecombe and Cosford before being stationed as a ledger clerk at an ammunition station in Sutton

After the war, she went to work at Arthur Rickwoods in Chatteris as a clerk/secretary. She met her husband George Raven while walking along a street in Chatteris and the couple were married in 1946.

Their only son, Michael Raven, was born in 1948 and the family lived in Fairway, Chatteris.

They moved to Infields Farm, in March in the 1960s where Florence took on the care of 75 pigs while George farmed the small-holding.

The couple moved to a bungalow at Westry when they retired in 1991.

Florence learned two new skills in later life. Firstly she learnt to drive while in her 50s and then she learnt to swim in her 60s.

George died in 2007 and their son Michael sadly passed away of a brain tumour in 2009. He was married to Susanne and they had two children Steven and Melissa.

Steven married Sara and has two children, Katelyn and Harry and Melissa married Jez and has two boys, Dylan and Freddie.

Florence enjoys several hobbies including card playing, she was very good at both Bridge and Whist, and she also loves a game of bingo.

Yesterday (Monday) Florence’s family gathered at Askham House, in Doddington, where she now lives, for a celebration of her big birthday.