A life well lived: Meet the man who has lived through a century of Trafford history

Centenarian Charles Kirwin was born in Clayton, Manchester on June 19, 1918, six months before the Allies defeated Germany to bring an end to the First World War.

Charles has a rich trove of stories which he has happily shared with us. The stories shine a light on a Trafford that has since been lost in the murky depths of time.

With bright, flashing eyes Charles eagerly recalls memories of Nazi bombing raids, sharing scraps of food with other children during the Great Depression, swaying and spinning the night away in ballrooms and dance halls, and falling in love again at the age of 90.

Life began for Charles in the redbrick streets of Clayton, in the shadow of the Great War. The son of a felt merchant, Charles was spared the cruelties of absolute poverty, but life was no picnic for the Kirwins.

His father made a living selling felt cut-offs left over from the textile mills. Founded by Charles' grandfather in the 1860s, the Kirwins family business served the community for nearly a century before Manchester's textile mills closed for good in the 1940s.

Charles' earliest memory of growing up in Trafford is the constant sound of clopping hooves on cobbles.

He said: "There were more horse and carts than cars for the best part of my childhood. There were teams of horse-drawn wagons weaving through the streets, pulling coal and other goods. They completely outnumbered cars on the roads."

His formative years were shaped by the destruction of the Great War and the desperation of the Great Depression.

Charles said: "I saw an awful lot of poverty. The 1920s and 1930s were hard times. Families were much larger then and there was never enough food to go around.

"My family were a bit better off, because my dad had his own business, so we didn't suffer as much as some of our neighbours and friends.

"I remember me and my brothers playing in the street and eating a butty. The other children ran over to us and asked us for a bite. They were so hungry.

"It wasn't unusual to see children with no shoes on their feet. They would take turns to wear what clothes and shoes they had. The children would wear home-made clogs because families couldn't afford a new pair of shoes. Clothes were a luxury."

His memories of the 1920s are coloured by scenes of scarcity and hardship, when mothers would go without a meal for days, just to feed their husbands and children.

He said: "The men needed the food for energy, so they could get through the gruelling 12 hours shifts. They were cruel times. The 20s were the worst years I have seen in my life. Worse even than the war years. I hope those times never come again."

He was educated at English Martyrs Primary School in Urmston before attending Old Trafford Tech in the 1930s. After leaving school in 1933, he was apprenticed at Metropolitan Vickers in Trafford Park.

Charles said life slowly started to improve for most people as the 1930s drew to a close.

He said: "Around 1936, things started to get better. People started having a bit more money to spend on food and life was looking more hopeful."

But this brief reprieve from hunger and want wouldn't last long.

"Then the war came and all hell broke loose", said Charles.

But life continued and Charles, an eternal optimist, fondly remembers the music halls and radio hits of the day.

He said: "I've always loved singing and dancing. The songs of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and Bing Crosby. I could dance all night. We used to love doing the Charleston. We could really move."

But singing and dancing couldn't save the people of Trafford from the appalling terror and suffering of the Second World War.

The Metropolitan Vickers factory in Trafford Park was one of the biggest and most important heavy engineering facilities in the world. Charles would earn his living at the industrial site for 49 years, from the tender age of 14 to his retirement at the age of 63.

During the war, the firm was given a contract to build twin-engined bombers, known as Manchesters.

This type of work was very different from their traditional heavy engineering activities, so a new factory was built on the western side of Mosley Road in 1940.

Charles was employed to assemble tiny, intricate parts for the new planes, using an eye glass magnifier to fit together the component parts. The factory windows would be draped with black curtains so that German bombers wouldn't identify the bustling factory as thousands of staff diligently worked through the night.

Charles and his colleagues were a vital part of the war effort, building autopilot mechanisms and other parts for British bombers. Building the bombers made the factory a prime target for Nazi air raids and the first 13 Manchesters were destroyed by the Luftwaffe in an aerial assault on Trafford Park two days before Christmas 1940.

Charles remembers the surreal and hellish landscape that greeted him when he got off the bus at Trafford Park for another gruellingly long shift at work.

He said: "I'd step off the bus on Mosley Road and the streets would be unrecognisable.Whole rows of workshops and offices had disappeared. Factories just across the road from my work would be razed to the ground, obliterated by German bombs.

"The Germans aimed for Trafford Park because they knew we were making parts for our fighters planes and bombers. You never knew whether your workplace would be their in the morning. You never knew whether you would be coming home from work alive."

But there was light amid the darkness. Charles fell in love with Mary, his first wife, and they married in 1940. Charles said they had a happy and loving life together for 60 years, before Mary died in 2000.

Charles has lived a long, eventful life. But asked to reflect on how society has changed for the better in his lifetime, he didn't hesitate for a second.

"The best thing to happen in my lifetime is the enfranchisement of women. They had very hard lives in the 20s and 30s. They were the centre of family life and had to make do with very little. To see them finally treated with respect, as equals, was a lovely thing to witness."

Charles met his second wife, Milly, in 2002 when he was 84-years-old. After several years of courtship, the couple tied the knot in 2008, just days before Charles' 90th birthday.

Charles and Milly, 86, celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on June 14.

Charles and Milly on their wedding day, June 14 2008.

He said: "I have been blessed with two amazing wives. They have filled my life with love and light. They are probably the reason why I have enjoyed such a long life."

He had known Milly for many years, as a neighbour on Belmont Road, Sale.

Charles and Milly bonded over their mutual loss, after losing their spouses the same year.

Charles' friendly charm won Milly's heart after he visited her one day and gifted her a Collis plant.

A happy man with high-spirits and a gentle nature, I asked him what decade he thought was the happiest for Trafford and Britain.

He said: "I think the 1950s, when people started to live again, it was like a weight had been lifted. The horror of the war and the hardships of the years after the war were behind us. People started to look forward to the future."

After a century of life, Charles is still looking towards the future. In recent years, he has enjoyed seaside holidays across Britain, soaking in the sunshine in Cornwall, Brighton and Llandudno with Milly.

Charles also enjoys a busy family life with no less than three children, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

When he does have a spare minute to himself, Charles likes to keep his mind sharp with crosswords and Sudoku.

Asked what birthday gift a man of his age would like, his rapid fire mind springs into action.

"A pair of rollerskates. I've worn out my old pair", he quips dryly.

It is easy to see, being in Charles' company and listening to his stories, that Charles has a happy hunger for life. This positivity has seen him through some of the worst chapters in modern history. If two world wars and decades of crushing poverty have been unable to stop Charles from living and loving life, nothing will.

And it's not just a hunger for life that Charles is known for.

His middle child, Philip, says his father has a ferocious appetite too.

Philip said: "He loves his food. Nearly every day my dad and Milly go out for something to eat. He loves nothing more than a good steak pie and a pint of bitter. Usually finished off with a big bowl of ice cream for good measure."

And the secret to a long, happy and healthy life?

"Two incredible women who I've been lucky enough to call my wife. And singing and dancing. I've always loved to sing and dance. I'm a happy man and I don't let things get me down", said Charles.

Charles has seen the best and worst of humanity in his 100 years of life in Trafford. Anyone who has the privilege to meet him will know at once that he is living proof that the best of humanity always triumphs.