{"id":9884,"date":"2026-06-15T13:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/?p=9884"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:30:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T13:30:44","slug":"centenarian-betty-has-no-regrets-as-she-marks-milestone-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/centenarian-betty-has-no-regrets-as-she-marks-milestone-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Centenarian Betty has \u2018no regrets\u2019 as she marks milestone birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Harbour Homes sheltered housing tenant said she had \u201cno regrets\u201d as she celebrated her 100th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n

Betty Cowan marked her centenary surrounded by family and friends, with a week of visits, parties and celebrations. Fellow tenants and staff at Harbour Homes\u2019 Hermitage Court sheltered housing development in Leith also joined in the festivities.<\/p>\n

Born in Leith on 13 June 1926, Betty has remained close to her roots throughout her life. The second youngest of 10 children, her family moved to Restalrig in 1936.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

During the Second World War, Betty was evacuated. She recalled: \u201cI got the train at the bottom of Easter Road and we thought we were going miles away\u2026 it was Lasswade. We thought we were at the end of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout her life, Betty has enjoyed socialising, going to clubs, dancing and the cinema.<\/p>\n

Hard work has been a theme throughout Betty\u2019s life. She started her working life when she was 14 at a rubber mill in Leith, before moving on to Gaudie\u2019s Box Makers and Lamb\u2019s. Betty also worked in Crawford\u2019s the bakers in 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. She worked until she was 78 and enjoyed holidays abroad until she was in her early nineties. Betty also worked in Marks and Spencer on Princes Street as a cleaner. She still has a 20% discount for the retailer and a pension.<\/p>\n

Betty met her husband Jimmy at Gaudie\u2019s when she was 22. Together they had four children: James, Michael, John and Janis. Sadly, John and James have since passed away. Betty has four grandchildren and one great-grandson, though the family suffered a further loss last year with the death of her granddaughter Nicola.<\/p>\n

Despite the hardships her family has faced over the years, Betty remains positive.<\/p>\n

Betty said: \u201cI\u2019ve been very lucky. I\u2019ve had a really good life, a good family, we\u2019ve had our wee ups and downs, but everything is lovely now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got no regrets and I\u2019ve never wanted for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Betty moved into Hermitage Court in 2009 and says it was one of the best decisions she has ever made, enjoying both the friendships and the wide range of social activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being here \u2014 it\u2019s the best thing I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Having witnessed many changes in Leith and Edinburgh over the decades, Betty embraced a more recent development last year when she took a tram trip to St James Quarter, enjoying the view down Leith Walk.<\/p>\n

Her secret to a long and happy life? Simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in working hard. Looking after young children keeps you young \u2014 well, it\u2019s obviously done that for me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Maureen Combe, who leads the Sheltered Housing team at Harbour Homes, said:<\/strong>
\n\u201cBetty is a much-loved member of our Hermitage Court community, and it has been a privilege to celebrate her birthday with her. Reaching 100 years old is an incredible milestone. Betty\u2019s warmth, resilience and positive outlook are an inspiration to everyone around her. The whole community has enjoyed being part of her special celebrations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos by Neil Hanna<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Harbour Homes sheltered housing tenant said she had \u201cno regrets\u201d as she celebrated her 100th birthday.","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":9889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homes","category-sheltered-housing"],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Harbour Homes","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9884"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9892,"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9884\/revisions\/9892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbour.scot\/homes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}