The Queen may have been receiving all the birthday plaudits last week, but she was not the only one celebrating a special milestone.
One Highland woman celebrated her 100th birthday the day after the royal’s 90th.
Flora Brill marked her centenary on Friday surrounded by friends and loved ones in Urray House care home in Muir of Ord.
She is the oldest resident in the care home and was involved in the commissioning of the original building.
Among her many birthday cards and good wishes was a birthday message from the Queen.
Mrs Brill was born in Leith, Edinburgh, to John and Grace Ewing and was the youngest of three daughters.
Her father was a third generation light-keeper with the Northern Lighthouse Board, originally from the island of Erraid in the
Inner Hebrides, and her mother was an Orcadian born on the island of Sanday.
She studied in Edinburgh and went on to qualify as a physiotherapist during World War II.
While working at Eden Hall Hospital outside Edinburgh she met her husband to be, Ray Brill, a Dingwall man, who had been injured while serving with the Seaforth Highlanders. They were married in 1944 at Iona Abbey, the burial place of many of
Scotland’s early Kings.
The couple lived in Avoch Harbour and Munlochy before settling in Lettoch.
Mrs Brill’s husband joined the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society, where he worked until his retirement in 1984, earning an MBE for his services to agriculture.
Mrs Brill returned to physiotherapy and worked in Inverness, and her final job was as the County Physiotherapist for Ross and Cromarty, based in the Ross Memorial Hospital in Dingwall.
After retiring, Mrs Brill ploughed all of her energy into volunteering.
She was a director of the animal charity Scottish SPCA, a founder member of the Easter Ross branch of Soroptomist International, a worldwide organisation for women, and launched Crossroads Care in Dingwall.
She was also involved with the commissioning of the original Urray House, built as a local authority care home and eventually replaced in 2014 by a new modern facility, operated by Parklands Group.
Mrs Brill moved into the upgraded venue in April last year, and features in a new promotional film for the care home, recently posted on the Parklands website.
Denise Scott, manager of Urray House, said: “Flora has been a lovely addition to the Parklands family. She has spent a life caring for others so we are proud to be able to care for her in her older years. This will be a very special celebration of a much loved resident.”
