A CARE home’s residents gathered together this week to count the hundreds of birthday cards that had been sent to 102-year-old May Barton.
The lifelong Barnsley resident, who now lives at The Firs in Dodworth, turned 102 on Sunday, which was celebrated with a party.
Activities co-ordinator Sharon Gayford told the Chronicle: “The party was great, about 30 of her relatives came down including cousins she’d not seen in a long time.
“One of them who’s 93 got up to have a dance with her - even at 102 she’s still dancing.
“May has slight dementia, but when she saw family members it was like a window opened.
“It gave me goosebumps and made her daughter cry.”
Alongside this party, staff began an appeal to get birthday cards sent to May as they worked to make this momentous day extra special.
On Wednesday, residents and staff gathered together at the home’s coffee morning to take a final count of how many cards May received - which had them discovering there were 787 cards sent in from across the globe.
Sharon added: “We had a lovely little morning with plenty of cake and coffee.
“We were only asking for 102 cards originally, but it went viral and we ended up getting cards from everywhere.
“There are some from Egypt, Australia, and a lot from all-over America.
“People have been really thoughtful and it was nice to be able to finally read through them all.
“Lots were homemade too - it’s been really overwhelming.”
