A SAINTFIELD farmer celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by great company at a Bangor care home on Sunday.
Boyd McConnell turned 100 years old on April 16, and celebrated the occasion surrounded by family and friends at the Summerhill Care Home.
Born on a farm near Crossgar in 1923, the dedicated farmer and husband was the youngest of six children, of which he remains the only living sibling.
Boyd would go into farming himself, spending a large portion of his life on a farm near Saintfield, which he and his older brother, Tom, bought.
Said the centenarian: “I was born one mile outside Crossgar on a farm, and I lived there until I was 28. My brother (Tom) and I bought a farm three miles from Saintfield and that is where I spent my life farming.
“I spent about 60 years there and I was a farmer all my life. My brother died in 1999, and a labourer asked me if I would sell the farm.
“I sold it around the turn of the century and I lived in Comber until I came to the care home,” said Boyd.
Boyd met Hannah ‘Daisy’ McCune in 1966, marrying her two years later in 1968 and they have now been married for 55 years.
He and Daisy did not have any children, although Boyd has a total of five nephews and four nieces.
The centenarian notes the most significant part of his life was meeting his wife almost 60 years ago.
“I met Daisy and asked her out in 1966, and we married in 1968,” said Boyd.
As a faithful parishioner of Newtownards Reformed Presbyterian Church, Boyd said ‘the Lord has been good’, to give him 100 years of life, and at ‘wonderful health’.
“I never imagined at one time that I would reach 100,” he said.
Visiting her uncle for this milestone birthday from England was Alison Aldridge, who states they remain close despite her ‘living on the wrong side of the Irish Sea’.
“It was a wonderful day,”said Alison. “He was a very active member of his church, the Newtownards Reformed Presbyterian Church, and has many dear and good friends.
“He is the loveliest man you could possibly meet, and I have loved him since I first met him when I was about eight years old,” said Alison.
