A countryside pub rolled out the red carpet for one of its customers as it threw a special party to mark her 102nd birthday. Muriel Davies’ family contacted the Black Dog in Belmont to arrange a birthday meal for the great-grandmother, however when landlady Elaine Brooks learned of the age they would be celebrating decided to pull out all the stops. Ms Brooks, who runs the picturesque Church Street pub, decided to give Muriel the star treatment to give her and her 17 descendants a day to remember.
She said: “Muriel is such a star - not only to reach such a great age but to have done so many things in her life. “So, we wanted to do more than provide the venue for the function. “We thought that a star deserves a red carpet – which is precisely what we rolled out, as well as surprising her with flowers too.
” Born in Norfolk, Muriel moved to Bolton when she was six years old, and has been a well-known face in the town ever since. She spent more than half a century doing voluntary work for the RNLI, touring pubs and clubs with collection boxes to support the lifeboats charity. She also worked as a seamstress and during the Second World War was part of the Women’s Land Army, ploughing wheat, barley and rye in the farm fields of Lincolnshire.
She has also been a member of Bolton Unity Church for 90 years. At the lunch with Muriel were her daughter, Christine Heppolette, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, plus 11 other members of her family. Muriel’s bel.