Kathleen celebrates her 100th birthday with memories of a long life in Melton

Kathleen Bishop aged 15 in 1938 (left) and celebrating her 100th birthday at her Melton home with a car from the King

Kathleen Bishop has lived through the reigns of five different British monarchs so it was a special thrill when she received a card from the new King Charles III offering congratulations on her 100th birthday.

She has strong memories of her teenage years during the Second World War when her father was killed in a German bombing raid on Holwell Works in 1940.

Kathleen still lives independently at her home, off Asfordby Road, and she is a regular at the Evergeen Club, at Melton’s Age UK Gloucester House, which she has attended for a remarkable 38 years. Friends and volunteers at the club held a party to celebrate her milestone birthday.

“I’ve always been very active so I think that’s my secret,” she told the Melton Times.

Kathleen Bishop celebrates her 100th birthday with friends at the Evergeen Club at Melton's Age UK Gloucester House

"I am very independent still and I just keep going.”

Kathleen was born on March 28, 1923, at the family home, at 15 North Street, Asfordby Valley.

She had three sisters and four brothers and learned many homemaking skills from her mother, Lily, which she continued to use late into her life, such as dressmaking, knitting and baking.

Tragedy struck the family when a lone Luftwaffe bomber attacked Holwell Works, where her father, Thomas, worked.

Kathleen Bishop (front row, fourth from left) pictured during the Second World War at the old tech college in Melton when she was learning to use carpentry tools.
Others in the photo - Ken Hendley, Mrs Garner, Margaret Humfries, Nena Simpson, Kathy Wheatcraft, Mable James, Betty Jones, Kath Losley, Margaret Wallbanks, Vicky and Polly Baxter, Barbara Handley, Rhoda Littlewood, Lily Daly and Dolly Losley — Kathleen Bishop (front row, fourth from left) pictured during the Second World War at the old tech college in Melton when she was learning to use carpentry tools. Others in the photo - Ken Hendley, Mrs Garner, Margaret Humfries, Nena Simpson, Kathy Wheatcraft, Mable James, Betty Jones, Kath Losley, Margaret Wallbanks, Vicky and Polly Baxter, Barbara Handley, Rhoda Littlewood, Lily Daly and Dolly Losley

Kathleen recalled: “The sirens had been going all night and we used to go under the stairs to be safe.

"Dad was on his way to work and he was one of four men, and a baby, who were killed in the bombing.

"I was 17 at the time and it was terrible for us all.”

Kathleen was employed during the war at a factory in Thurmaston, repairing the wings of RAF Tiger Moth aircraft.

Kathleen Bishop with family members as she flew in a plane on her 95th birthday

She was one of an army of local women who were taught how to use carpentry tools at the old Melton technical college, on King Street.

Despite the war, Kathleen and her friends enjoyed a vibrant social life in the town.

She said: “I was always out dancing at the Corn Exchange, which was in Nottingham Street.

"We also used to go to the pictures at The Regal.”

Kathleen met Jonathan Kent at a fair on Egerton Park after he had served as an engineer with the RAF for six years.

They married at St Mary’s Church in the town and had a son, Ian.

After the war, she worked for the Ministry of Food, which was based in Sherrard Street.

Kathleen was widowed and married her second husband, Bernard Bishop, a former policeman.

For her 95th birthday she told her family she wanted to experience flying in a Tiger Moth.

It was all booked but she was unable to get in the aircraft so instead she had a flight in a more modern small four-seater plane, even being allowed at the controls for a short period.

Kathleen dotes on her family – she has three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

She has received 60 birthday cards including one from Leicestershire supergroup, Showaddywaddy, who son Ian is a major fan of.

“I’ve had a very good life,” Kathleen added.