Watch: Jazz band serenades centenarian Kathleen on her birthday in Cork city

A 100-year-old Cork woman celebrated her centenary in style with a live performance from the Cork City Jazz Bus.

“She said she felt like the queen,” said Theresa O’Brien, daughter of Kathleen Goulding, who today celebrated hitting the 100-year milestone.

“On Saturday, my son Robert organised the bus to come to Blackpool and sing Happy Birthday to her, and she was hanging out the window. She was so happy.”

Speaking to The Echo, Theresa detailed how Kathleen’s life has centred around rearing her children and spending time with her extended family.

From 100-years-old to one-month-old, the Goulding-O’Brien clan spans several generations, with Kathleen being a mother to six children — Catherine, Theresa, Michael, Gerard, Tim, and Paula — grandmother to 14 grandchildren, great-grandmother to 20 great-grandchildren, and great-great grandmother to four great-great-grandchildren.

Born in Kerry in 1924, Kathleen later moved to Blackpool, and has since led a long and fruitful life, with her daughter attributing her good health to being a positive and good-humoured person, who “never wore makeup”. “She laughs every day, and I think that’s why she’s alive,” said Theresa.

“She never has a bad word to say about anybody.

“She never used anything on her face too, and believe you me she has beautiful skin, you’d think she was 60!”

Having left school in her late teens, Kathleen went on to work for the Sunbeam Wolsey textile factory in Blackpool, close to where she grew up, before going on to meet her husband Tadgh Goulding in the late 1940s at a dance hall in Cork city.

The couple then moved to England and married in 1950, before returning back to Ireland in 1951 to start a family.

Kathleen now resides in an apartment above Trident Cleaners in Blackpool, which is ran by her daughter Theresa, where she spends her days chatting with family, as well as watching sports and looking after her daughter’s beloved dog, Alfie.

“She loves her football, she loves Manchester United, she’ll sit there all day, and you couldn’t disturb her,” said Theresa.

“She loves darts too, Raymond van Barneveld is her favourite, she loves him. My dog too, he’s like her next child.”

The family plan to continue the birthday celebrations for Kathleen this evening with an annual tradition of playing board games.

“She used to love it when we were children, we used to spend hours playing Ludo and she was very competitive, so we do this every year for her birthday,” said Theresa.

“She’s lived a quiet life, rearing us was her life, and she loves life.”