Congratulations to Arthur Halford from Yardley in Birmingham who celebrates his 100^th birthday on 11 May. Arthur is quite remarkable; he an aortic valve replacement when he was 88, he has a pacemaker and is now among a small percentage of the population to meet the grand age of 100. On top of that, Arthur still lives in his own home and has even beaten Covid-19!

Up until last November, Arthur was fit and healthy, he would get himself up and dressed, prepare his breakfast and enjoy a spot of gardening; that was until he was admitted to hospital with deep vein thrombosis. Arthur overcame this battle, only to fight another one a week later after contracting Covid-19 pneumonia, but again, Arthur would not be defeated!  

Today, Arthur still lives at home with support from his daughters, Ann and Isabel with Ann being his main carer. Arthur was a carer himself for many years for his wife, of 66 years. Kathleen had vascular dementia and eventually went to live in a home but prior to that, Arthur was her primary carer supported by his youngest daughter Ann.

During his years as a carer, Arthur was registered with Birmingham Carers Hub, (delivered by Forward Carers CIC) and would find the Carers coffee mornings helpful and supportive. Now that his daughters are providing care for him, they too have registered with Birmingham Carers Hub and benefited from a £200 wellbeing payment to go towards a holiday.

Having left school at aged 14, most of Arthur’s working life was in the car industry with the last 15 years of his career spent driving articulated lorries for the post office where he received many awards for accident-free driving.

This lifelong Aston Villa supporter, has four children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Arthur says he puts his long life down to, “all the help I get from family, a cooked hot meal every lunchtime and chocolates and ice cream in the afternoons.”

 Ann said, her father,
“gets all the love, care and support in his own home from family. We are extremely grateful to Forward Carers for their continued guidance and help as we navigate our way around caring for our 100-year-old father.”

Forward Carers CEO, Simon Fenton said, “We all wish Arthur a very happy birthday. We think Arthur is truly great and a real-life legend! We are pleased we were able to support him when he was a carer for his wife Kathleen and we will continue to support his family who now provide care for him.”

Forward Carers is funded by Birmingham City Council, Birmingham and Solihull CCG and Birmingham Children’s Trust to deliver Birmingham Carers Hub providing information, advice and support to over 18,000 registered carers in the city.

If you are providing care to a family member or friend who is frail, has an illness, disability or addiction, contact Birmingham Carers Hub for support. You can find out more on Forward Carers website. For support, call Birmingham Carers Hub on 0333 006 9711, email info@birminghamcarershub.org.uk or complete the carer registration form.