Rene's Birthday Celebrations

A very special lady indeed - Rene Lowe - and our very special friend. Happy 100th Birthday!

Rene at 100 listening to the Windsor Town Crier
100 in golden balloons

This was a surprise party for Rene's 100th birthday. Family and friends were present. The local community had turned out too to help celebrate Rene's birthday. She is a local celebrity and is a regular at The Swan, especially for the markets.

Rene arriving totally unaware of the family, friends and community that were waiting for her.
The surprise is starting to hit her
Rene with face covered
Rene and her daughter Trudy enjoying the surprise party

Andy 'Frosty' Frost is a well known and well liked character in the Clewer area. He is also our postman too. He had the very important job of bring the birthday card from Her Majesty The Queen and delivering it safely to Rene. To do this he used his trusty Morris Minor, a real classic car.

Frosty the Postman sneaking up behind Rene Presentation of the card from Her Majesty The Queen
Frosty taking time with Rene to tell her about the card
None of us could top this card - the one from Her Majesty The Queen The card up went up in pride of place

Chris Brown is the Official Town Crier of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. He escorted Rene to the bar when she became our first customer when we re-opened back in July 2019. He jumped at the chance of being involved with his old pal especially to celebrate such a special day.

The Town Crier with Rene looking at her card from The Queen Chris at full volume
The Town Crier had a specially prepared speech
The boom of his voice was heard near and far

There is a video of his proclamation on our YouTube channel. You can change the size, etc by using the controls of the embedded YouTube media player.

Our pals at BBC Radio Berkshire interviewed Rene for her birthday as part of Andy Jones live broadcast on Sunday afternoons.

Sunday Afternoon Show, BBC Berkshire - Rene's Birthday

Presented by Andy Jones on Sunday 6th Ferbuary, 2022.

We acknowledge that the audio snippet is copyright of the BBC and is reproduced with thanks.

A birthday cake is always special and this was an excellent one. Everyone came together to celebrate the traditional cutting of the cake.

The birthday cake
Traditional photo taken witrh the birthday cake before cutting
Rene cutting the cake
Rene cutting the cake

The quiz team Hettie's Heroes beautifully decorated The Coach House for the occasion and brought down the traditional birthday cake. Martin had set up rolling photos of Rene through the last years which was a great talking point for all. And the Friends of The Swan prepared the nibbles to help out.

Balloons, signs, the works inside The Coach House
All laid out with food ready to be eaten The family and volunteers had laid on a spread
The quiet before the storm - nothing was eventually left
The coach House looking bonny

And Rene was made an Honorary Member of The Swan Staff with the presentation of a staff polo shirt. All the very best from Willie, Micky, Connor and the rest of the staff at The Swan!

Rene realising it is a staff polo short she is unwrapping
Hopefully it is the right size
Rene our Honorary member of Staff

Ico:Backwards Ico:Forwards