A CANTLEY woman will be reflecting on a century of life, love and loss as she celebrates her 100th birthday surrounded by friends and family. Edna Reeder, who was two years old when the Titanic sank, will be joined by 15 loved ones when she celebrates the big day in style at her favourite restaurant, the Filby Bridge, today.

A CANTLEY woman will be reflecting on a century of life, love and loss as she celebrates her 100th birthday surrounded by friends and family.

Edna Reeder, who was two years old when the Titanic sank, will be joined by 15 loved ones when she celebrates the big day in style at her favourite restaurant, the Filby Bridge, today.

And she has one message for those who also hope to emulate her long life - what will be, will be.

“I can only think that I have been a very contented person no matter what has happened in my life” the great grandmother said.

“I've had a few ups and downs, but you have to take what comes.”

Born in Lowestoft, Joan still has strong memories of her childhood, over which the first world war occasionally cast its long shadow.

“I remember being young, and you saw the Zeppelins coming overhead and being fetched out of bed and brought downstairs, where I then sat under two chairs, which had an eiderdown put over them.”

Aged seven, she went to Felton elementary school, an experience which she loved, before becoming a telegraph girl at Haddiscoe post office.

Joan met her future husband Robert Woods in Felton and they were married in Wembley, where they set up home together. Joan, who was then 23, worked as a book keeper, before leaving work to raise their two sons, Peter and Brian, but she was beginning to feel the pull of home.

She said: “I lived in London for 36 years but I love East Anglia and always wanted to come back, it was a place I was always happy in, and they were building bungalows, so we moved. I never dreamed I would be here aged 100.”

The couple moved to Cantley 1970 in retirement, but Robert died. However, happiness was literally around the corner and Joan was remarried in 1990 to Edward Reeder.

She added: “My fondest memories over the last 100 years have been meeting my second husband, whom I married in 1990. He looked after everything and it was a happy time.

“We enjoyed each others' company and were always chatting together, he used to joke that he could never buy me a birthday card because we were always together.”

A member of her local over 50s club for 38 years, Joan, who is now a widow and lives in her own home, keeps close contact with

her family, enjoying

reading Catherine Cookson novels and getting out and about on her mobility scooter.

She also enjoys keeping her home spic and span, a habit she learned as a youngster.

“My mother was quite strict and when I was ten I remember she used to check where I had dusted with a handkerchief - I started young and I'm still doing it today!”