Portsmouth woman celebrates 100th birthday at Queens Hotel - "No drinking or smoking" are her secrets to a long life

Doris Darbyshire celebrated turning a century on Wednesday, January 3 at the Queens Hotel in Southsea with more than 70 friends and family gathering at the event to celebrate Doris reaching the landmark birthday. It was a gathering that Doris was not expecting

She said: “The day was full of surprises but it was a beautiful day. I had family come down from Yorkshire, Wales, London and wishes from Sunderland, Newcastle, and America. I can't remember them all there was so many of them. There were 70 or 80 people there.”

Doris lived the majority of her life in Portsmouth, where she still resides today, and was one of 13 siblings. After the Second World War she married Robert Darbyshire and they lived in Yorkshire for just under twenty years. Having initially only gone there for a holiday, they didn’t return to Portsmouth until 1963 where they raised their five children. She worked in numerous places including running Home Help where she assisted elderly members of the community.

Doris revealed the secret to her long life: "I don’t drink and don’t smoke and I have always worked, right up until I was ninety where I helped out at my daughter Bernice’s pub, The Painters Arms.” Her youngest daughter, Colleen Usher, said: “We had a lovely afternoon. All her family wish her a fabulous 2024 and are looking forward to celebrating again next year!”