A happy 100th for Portsmouth birthday girl Delcia Hart

Delcia Hart a few days before her 100th birthday, pictured at Lovedean Village Hall, Waterlooville. Picture: Chris Moorhouse (231119-27)

Born on November 26, 1919, in Guildford Road, Portsmouth, she was the eldest of five sisters. Delcia, nee Lance, lived in Clive Road with her parents Percy and Rhoda until they moved to Myrtle Grove when she was 15 years old.

While standing in a cinema queue in Chichester, Delcia started talking to RAF serviceman Eric Hart, who was stationed at Tangmere Airfield. They married at St Mary’s Church, Fratton, in June 1944, and have two children, Pam and Ray. Sadly, Eric died in 2012.

Delcia lived in Myrtle Grove until she was 95 years old when she moved to Bayith Rest Home in Lovedean. Her only break from living in Myrtle Grove was for a couple of years during the war when she lodged in Chichester working for the Ministry of Agriculture.

On November 23, Delcia’s family organised a birthday party at Lovedean Village Hall with 45 guests and her one surviving sister, Marian Rumble.