ON MONDAY, local resident, Douglas Chapman, raised a glass with friends, family, and a special visitor.
Wild Acres Care Home, where he lives, was very happy to welcome The Worshipful Mayor of Wokingham Borough, Cllr Caroline Smith, to complete the festivities.
Registered Manager of Wild Acres, Andrina Fry, said:
“We’re delighted the Mayor has kindly agreed to come, and that we’ve managed to keep it all a secret from Doug!”
Douglas is a keen Fulham supporter, and has two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren, aged from four to 21 years.
On reaching his 100th birthday, and being asked to reveal his secret of long life, Douglas said:
“I don’t know, perhaps it’s all the travelling I’ve done – or maybe I’ve just been lucky!
“I especially enjoyed spending time in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city.
“I loved the music there, it was a special time.”
Douglas has travelled far and wide throughout his life, and is no stranger to adventure.
He once drove from Riyadh to the UK in a car sporting a hand made number plate created from wooden crates.
And during war service with the Merchant Navy, he managed to survive more than one ship sinking.
“One of these incidents was just off Gibraltar,” said a family member.
“The ship went down, but Doug managed to escape on a raft.”
Working for the British Council then took him and his family to various locations around the globe, including the Caribbean, Africa, the Seychelles and Iraq.
And work for British Aerospace, creating technical manuals for pieces of equipment, led to a period in Saudi Arabia.
In 1970 he and his wife Joan retired to Twickenham, and now Douglas lives at Wild Acres Care Home, in Finchampstead.
His daughter, Dee, and her husband Jim live nearby, so are able to make sure that he is kept topped up with his favourite pickled onions and pork pies!
Patrick, his son, lives in Normandy with his wife, Josette, but keeps in touch via the residential home conferencing facility.
The family describe Douglas as a very caring person who nursed his wife in her later years when she was unwell, and cared for his widowed mother, making regular week-end round trips to visit her in Cambridge with his brother Brian.
They say:
“Douglas has a very alert mind, and a thirst for information – perhaps this, and a few sips of the water of life have kept him young!
“He’s always ready with comments and questions, and keeps us all on our toes to have the answers!
Douglas is delighted to have received his telegram from the Queen.
He said:
“It’s lovely to have this, it is very special.
“And I guess I’ll have to wait for another 100 years now, to get something like it again!”
