A FORMER nurse who spent years on Britain’s colonial frontiers has celebrated her 100th birthday in Dorchester.

Catherine Grossmith has lived in the town for more than half her life after moving back from Malaya where her husband worked.

On Thursday April 14, she celebrated her 100th birthday at her home with 11 members of her family.

Her daughter Margaret Oswald said: “Reaching 100 years old is not exactly a small achievement.

“She had a wonderful day.

“There was a poster on her bedroom wall saying ‘Happy Birthday Mummy’, and she kept looking at it and remembering that she was 100.”

She was born Catherine Dunn in the north-eastern town of Jarrow on April 14, 1916.

Her father worked in the famous Tyneside shipyards, repairing and testing ships.

After finishing school, she trained as a nurse and was packed off to India during the Second World War.

Mrs Oswald, said: “She worked in Bangalore at a hospital receiving injured soldiers.

“That’s where she met my father, George Grossmith.”

Mr Grossmith was a Chindit, a special forces soldier involved in the Burma Campaign.

Before the war, he worked at an engineering company in Bristol with his father, but left to sign up as soon as he could and rose through the ranks to captain

Mrs Oswald said: “They got married on November 16, 1946 at St Bede’s Church in Jarrow.

“My father went to Cambridge University after the war and got a degree in surveying.

“He joined the colonial service and went out to Malaya in 1949.

“By this time my mother had two young children, Bernard and Anthony, and I followed in 1950.”

The family moved out to the region of Purak on the western coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, where Mr Grossmith became chief surveyor.

While the family were living in Malaya, the country declared its independence from British colonial rule.

By 1964, when they returned to England, the couple had six children: Bernard, Anthony, Margaret, Bernadette, Bede and Cecilia.

Mrs Oswald, who was a teenager when they returned, said: “We had a wonderful childhood out in Malaya.”

Shortly after they returned to the UK, Mr Grossmith was employed in County Hall, Dorchester as a town and country planner.

He died last year, aged 92.

Mrs Grossmith now has 14 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Mrs Oswald said: “The whole family gets together at Christmas time and it is wonderful when they do.”

If you’ve been celebrating anything, big or small, and want to feature in our next celebration pages for free, get in touch with George Smith either through the Facebook group, email george.smith@dorsetecho.co.uk or call 01305 830817.