Grand old lady of Stockton Edna Smith toasts turning 103 with a glass of sherry

For many people 1912 is the year the Titanic sank – but for grand old lady of Stockton Edna Smith it is better known as the year she was born!

A staggering 103 years on and Edna has just celebrated another amazing birthday.

And Edna, nee Popple, has outlived doctors’ expectations by more than 80 years.

As reported previously, she wasn’t expected to live to see her 21st birthday after an injury to her leg resulting from a playground fall became septic.

Doctors told Edna’s mum Margaret that her daughter would need her leg amputated if she were to live, but Margaret refused.

And thanks to pioneering surgery for the time, doctors were later able to remove the poison, along with a section of Edna’s left leg, replacing it with metal, with her undergoing around 12 operations on it.

Edna, who was born and bred in Stockton, married her late husband Frederick, who she met at St Thomas’ School, when she was aged 21.

To mark the occasion of her 103 birthday last month Edna was presented with flowers from Railway Housing Association.

Edna Popple and Frederick Smith in 1930's before they got married

Edna was one of the first residents to move into the Association’s Hackworth Court sheltered housing scheme - converted from the building of the original Stockton Railway Station - when it opened in 1994.

She then joined her family and friends for a special birthday lunch where she stuck to the one glass of sherry that she has stood her in good stead over the years.

Edna, who has four children, 11 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and eight great, great-grandchildren, said: “I still feel really well and I think it is because I like to keep myself busy, whether that is spending time with my family or playing bingo three times a week with my friends in Hackworth Court.

“I was one of the first residents to move in here when it first opened and I got to choose one of the lovely rooms overlooking the old platform.

“Even now I like looking out of the window and waving at the train drivers as they go past, and they always wave back!”

Railway Housing Association chief executive Anne Rowlands, who presented Edna with a bouquet of flowers, said: “Edna is one of our oldest residents, so we are delighted to have been able to share her birthday with her.”