An east Belfast woman who remembers seeing the Titanic being built has
celebrated her 108th birthday.
Lilian Spence, who still lives next door to the famous Spence's chip shop
that her late husband Eddie founded on the Beersbridge Road in 1921, was
born on New Year's Eve 1898.
The mother of eight is one of only two woman in Northern Ireland who reached
the 108 milestone in 2006.
Her father worked on the ill- fated Titanic, which was built by Harland and
Wolff shipyard and sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic.
"I do recall he took us down to see it," Lilian recalled. "It
was huge."
Mrs Spence's husband died in 1979 aged 90 and the youngest of her surviving
children is in their seventies.
Lilian, who was born long before the partition of Ireland, is one of a
handful of people on the island - all women - who were born in the 19th
century and are still alive well into the 21st.
In September, Nellie Thompson from south Belfast also celebrated her 108th
birthday.
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