An Irishwoman who lived through The Blitz in London and had a plane crash through the roof of her house has celebrated her 100th birthday.
Bridie Taylor, originally from Kiltimagh in Co Mayo, was born on January 10, 1922.
Now a great-grandmother, she moved to London in October 1943 before heading to Manchester to join her brothers.
Bridie, who worked in the office of an aircraft factory and on the till in a supermarket, lives in her home in Stretford, Manchester, and is cared for by her son Paul.
Reminiscing about living through the Blitz, Bridie told the Manchester Evening News about surviving her home being bombed.
After a night of dancing, Bridie left the dancehall to find her home had been hit by a plane that had been blasted out of the sky.
She said: “It was very scary, our house got bombed where we rented, but we were out, my friend and I.
“We were out at a dance hall, we come outside and a bomb had dropped.
“It was a flat roof on the house we were in, and they found parts of the plane on the roof where it had got hit.
“A friend went home [to Ireland] because she was scared, every time the air raid siren went off, she’d go under a table. I’d say ‘that won’t save you, the table’.”
Bridie says she didn’t mind having to sleep in an underground station during the air raids, as it would be a night of music and camaraderie.
She said: “They were all happy people, if not scared.
“But in comparison to coronavirus, I think we had the better time.
“You could talk to your neighbour, you could go into her house, you know, when they put restrictions on here - you can’t.
“You had to have blackout curtains, but I’d rather have that than the situation now.”
