Castle Grove

Mrs. Knowles celebrates 100th Birthday

Headline – Castle Grove hits the headlines in The Telegraph & the Western Morning News as Mrs. Knowles celebrates her 100th birthday in the Orangery. 

Francese Knowles enjoyed a day not to forget at Castle Grove, sharing her 100th birthday with friends and family.  Some of her relatives flew over from Australia for her special day.

As you would expect, Mrs. Knowles was looking forward to a telegram from The Queen.  However, due to the severe weather conditions experienced in Bampton , she nearly went without as the local postman John Harris struggled through the snow!   This story made it into The Telegraph (Click on the picture to enlarge).

Here is an extract from The Telegraph -

Treacherous roads and snowbound homes caused the suspension of many delivery rounds last week, particularly in rural areas.

But John Harris, 63, drove through blizzards to deliver the Queen’s message to Francese Knowles at the Castle Grove nursing home, Bampton, Devon, seven miles from the Royal Mail delivery office in Tiverton.

Mrs Knowles said she was “thrilled” as were two generations of her family who had travelled from Australia to be at her birthday party on Sunday.

“We were not allowed out for a good part of the week,” said Mr Harris, a postman for 18 years. “Even the townspeople could not get around. The pavements were deadly.

“I am not being heroic. Some of the roads were quite dodgy but I was just doing my job.”

 To view the full story please click here.

It also appeared in the  Western Morning News - (Click on the picture to enlarge).

 Here is an extract from the Western Morning News -

“When blizzards paralysed the Westcounty last week, thousands of workers opened their doors, saw up to 22 inches of snow, and went back to bed.  Heroic postman John Harris had other ideas.  Treacherous roads and snowbound homes made it impossible for the army of Royal Mail workers to do their rounds, especially in the countryside.

But Mr Harris, 63, noticed something special in the dark recesses of his postbag: a message from the Queen congratulating a Devon resident on reaching her 100th birthday.

Allowed out for special deliveries only, Mr Harris risked the wrath of the weather and delivered the letter to the snowbound Castle Grove nursing home in Bampton, a rural town seven miles from the Royal Mail delivery office in Tiverton.

Francese Knowles, the recipient, was “thrilled”, as were the two generations of her family who travelled from Australia to be at her birthday party on Sunday”.

To read the full story please click here.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge)