A BRIDGWATER woman is set to turn 100 on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 in the house where she has lived all her life.

Phyllis Marshall was born in the front bedroom of the house in Blacklands in 1925 and has lived at the property her entire life.

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The soon-to-be centenarian bought the property, which is understood dates from the 1890s, in 1950 with her late husband, Edmund.

The red-bricked house has many memories for Phyllis, who was one of six children - all of whom were born in the house. Of her siblings, her sister Dorothy, died in the house, while her brother, Wildfred, was killed in the Second World War.

Phyllis and Edmund Marshall met in the Duke of Monmouth Pub and were married at St. Mary’s Church in Bridgwater on September 18, 1948, and had two children, Kevin and Phillip. Skip forward to 2025, and Phyllis has four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

During World War Two, Phyllis worked at the Royal Ordnance Factory and travelled to the site, which is now being transformed into the Agratas gigafactory, on the S&D railway line.

This was followed by a ten-year stint working at the M&S department store in the town centre, before she became a part-time cleaner at the Barclays Bank.

Her late husband, Edmund, who was from Liverpool, worked on the Hinkley Point project before his untimely death in 1981 from asbestosis.

Although Phyllis now understandably has mobility challenges, she does have all her faculties, and her family are grateful to the team from Total Care in Bridgwater which provide daily caring services.

Speaking about the secret to her long life, Kevin, her son, said: “She would never keep a lot of things in the cupboard. She would always get up and decide on what she wanted for the day and would go and get fresh food.”

One story Kevin vividly remembers is how a historic strip light in the kitchen had blown and he told his mother that she “wouldn’t be able to get one of those again.”

But, unbeknownst to him, his mother had kept a replacement strip light upstairs – a place in the house where she hadn’t been for twenty years.

“Lo and behold, I brought it down and replaced the old light, and it worked”, Kevin said.

Phyllis is set to celebrate her 100th birthday at her cherished home in Blacklands and should receive a letter from the Royal Family.