The people of East Manchester have come together to shower a “much-loved” care home resident with hundreds of cards and gifts to help celebrate her 100th birthday this past weekend.
Marjorie Burke marked her 100th year on Sunday 4th April.
For many of us, the prospect of making it to 100 really does seem like a lifetime away, but for “big character” Marjorie – a resident at Averill House Care Home in Newton Heath, which offers residential memory and nursing memory care for those living with dementia – this milestone age was only around the corner when her carers decided to appeal to the public for a helping hand last month.
To help celebrate Marjorie’s special day in the most special way, Averill House’s team of dedicated Wellbeing Coordinators asked members of the local community to send her cards in the hopes of receiving 100 cards for her 100th birthday.
“All of our staff really want to make this a special occasion,” Jodie Yates told us last month.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s not every day you turn 100, [and] this is why we’re asking for 100 birthday cards – one for every year of her life in celebration of this milestone”.
And what a celebration it was.
ADVERTISEMENT
Averill House Care Home / Jodie Yates
After word of the public appeal began to successfully circulate around Greater Manchester on social media, not only did people rush to send Marjorie over 200 handwritten birthday cards, but many local primary schools, residents and businesses also pulled out all the stops to make sure it was a day she’ll never forget.
“She started her celebrations with us singing happy birthday and by opening her cards at 9am,” Jodie Yates – Wellbeing Coordinator at Averill House – told us, as she relived the special day.
“Marjorie was so overwhelmed and kept saying ‘are all these cards and present for me?’.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We had roughly over 200 cards sent and are still receiving them, along with hampers from local supermarkets, over 70 afternoon teas, and gifts from local schools including St Herbert’s RC Primary School in Chadderton, St John’s C of E Primary School in Failsworth, South Failsworth Primary School and more”.
After a special birthday breakfast, Jodie explained that the team lead Marjorie into the home’s gardens to take the COVID-safe celebrations up a notch.
Jodie continued: “A local lady and her friends who all have 1940s war vehicles and full uniforms from the war era kindly offered to drive up to the home and they presented Marjorie with a beautiful bunch of flowers.
“She had a sit on the bike and there was also an impromptu dance to ‘We’ll Meet Again'”.
Averill House Care Home / Jodie YatesParties to Perfection NWE
Now that lockdown restrictions permit it, members of Marjorie’s “loving family” then visited the home to wish her a socially-distanced happy birthday and to sing-along to ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ – which Jodie admits was “very emotional”.
ADVERTISEMENT
They also all watched on as she opened her 100th birthday card from Queen Elizabeth II.
After a whole host of celebrations “fit for a queen”, the day then drew to a close after Marjorie was joined by her fellow Averill House residents, alongside staff members, for afternoon tea and a glass of bubbly inside a purpose-built and specially-decorated dome – “kindly donated for free” by East Manchester-based events company, Parties to Perfection NWE – which was installed in the garden.
“Marjorie said it was best day she had ever had”.
Trending
ITV to be bought out by Sky in transformational British broadcasting deal worth £1.6 billion
Danny Jones
In a watershed moment for British broadcasting, Sky has reached a transformational agreement worth more than £1.6 billion to buy out ITV in a landmark takeover deal.
With Sky already owned by US telecommunications corporation Comcast, this is set to be one of the biggest shakeups in TV and streaming for some time.
Talks actually started last November, but the process to complete a buyout like this has obviously taken a significant amount of time and money already.
It’s also worth noting that the deal is still pending full approval from the relevant regulators; nevertheless, it’s fair to say that it could change the face of the British media giants – who are based here in Greater Manchester over at MediaCity – but might signal a significant overhaul of our media landscape.
The Sky Group have assured there will be no immediate change to popular shows and will not be put behind a paywall at present (for now, anyway), with ITV still under a free-to-air service until 2034 as part of its public licensing contract.
Aquisitons/mergers of this size like this don’t come around very often, at least not across this side of the pond, with the growing Disney’s growing multinational monopolisation being one of the biggest examples of conglomerates mopping up major networks and huge brands over the past decade.
Writing in a statement, Sky said: “The UK media market is undergoing a profound and rapid transformation, and as competition for audiences intensifies, scale matters more than ever in order to compete with global streaming giants and YouTube in the UK.
“Viewers will continue to enjoy the shows they know and love, such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Love Island, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, This Morning, Loose Women, Lorraine and News at Ten – alongside major live sporting events.”
That lattermost example feels particularly poignant at the moment, as this also means that the likes of ITV’s impressive World Cup coverage will come under the Sky umbrella in the near future.
ITV agrees sale of media and entertainment business to Sky for up to £1.6bnhttps://t.co/UtgO9REejy
It’s being seen as an ambitious attempt to shake up traditional terrestrial telly and digital platforms, with the ‘old guard’, as it were, having to move forward and fast to keep up with the mercurial market becoming evermore dominated by streaming services.
Of course, there are plenty raising questions and concerns over yet another domestic institution becoming deeper and deeper entwined with big American business; on the other hand, former ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, who still owns shares, says the deal was “essential” for its survival.
ITV will also receive £1.2bn in cash and Sky’s Love Productions business in return for ownership of their media and entertainment arm, whose shows include the Great British Bake Off.
Moving forward, ITV will also get a further £200m in 2028 if they meet revenue targets when it comes to advertising, with Sky promising to spend over £2.1bn on content from ITV Studios over a five-year period. You can read the full update from ITV right HERE.
Featured Images — James West (via Flickr)/Publicity picture
Trending
Wayne Rooney ‘agrees’ to bizarre bet ahead of 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals
Danny Jones
England and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has seemingly roped himself into a bizarre bet of his own making after yet more teams booked their place in the quarter-final stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It’s not quite Gary Lineker doing Match of the Day in his underpants after Leicester won the league, level, but we’d still pay to see it.
However, after the bedlam following England booking their spot in the quarter-finals this morning (feels odd to say and we’re still not quite sure what day it is), you might be surprised to learn it has nothing to do with the Three Lions’ historic victory.
It does have to do with who they’ll be facing in their next game, though: Norway, as Rooney seemed confident enough in his prediction that the Scandinavian side wouldn’t make it into the final eight that he wagered he’d row down the River Mersey. Well, they did…
Yes, in case you missed it, the Norwegians did make it past Brazil with a 2-1 win – and, of course, more goals for Erling Haaland – before Thomas Tuchel’s side had barely even woken up for their very long day at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico.
While no one was quite sure why ‘Wazza’ was quite so confident that the ‘Seleção’ were going to go through, especially since Norway had shown just as much star power in spells in the opening four rounds, he still decided to throw down the gauntlet on himself.
As you can see in the clip above, he says he’s a “man of [his] word” and looks to have even roped in the likes of fellow former pros turned punditry colleagues on the night, Micah Richards and Joe Hart.
That being said, he did make the caveat that perhaps it would be better if the BBC could somehow sort them to sail down the Hudson River in New York instead, simply for the sake of ‘time’.
We’re not sure exactly how easy it is for the British broadcasters to simply secure permission to take a rowboat down one of the busiest and most famous waterways in the world, but you never know.
Here’s hoping they at least try to make something happen, anyway.
There’s been plenty of curious and comedic moments already this tournament, but for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Harry Kane’s post-match following the tense 3-2 thriller against Mexico, you really need to.
He was given the chance to chat to the media once again after his voice recovered, but let’s just say the memes that have already come from THAT interview are almost as memorable as the match itself.
Emily Sergeant -
7th April 2021 
