“I’d like to be on the cover of Vogue next.” – Salford resident celebrates centenarian year on the cover of housing magazine

Irene Radcliffe, who enjoyed her 100th birthday earlier this year, had more to celebrate as she featured on the cover of the latest edition of Limelight, an annual customer magazine delivered to 8,000 homes around Salford.

Living in social housing her entire life, Irene headed to the print and production center in Leeds to have a tour of the headquarters and tell her story to the team at Salix Homes.

She was able to press the button of the printing press which created the edition of their magazine featuring her inaugural appearance as the cover girl.

She joked: “I’d never done any modelling before, but I’d like to be on the cover of Vogue next.

“I’d never have thought in a million years that I’d be a cover girl at my age, but it’s been a wonderful experience.

“It was marvellous to see how the magazine is made and really interesting to see it all come together – I didn’t realise there was so much to it.”

Born post-World War One on the 19th August, 1919, Irene was only a few weeks old when the Addison Act was passed and marked the beginning of the council housing system.

The youngest of ten children who were brought up on Robert Hall Street, in Ordsall.

Irene, whose father, James Butters was a stevedore by day, lived in a terraced house with her family as her father worked down on the Salford Docks.

It was in the 1970s, that she moved with her sister May to the newly built tower block in Ordsall, before finding her current home on Nine Acre Court in 1990.

Social housing provider and producer of the magazine, Salix Homes, were thrilled to hear Irene was keen to appear on their latest publication.

Lee Sugden, chief executive at Salix Homes, said: “Irene is our oldest tenant at Nine Acre Court and remarkably she turned 100 at the same time social housing marked its 100th anniversary.

“She’s spent her whole life living in social housing in Salford and has some wonderful memories and a great tale to tell, so we are privileged to share her story in our customer magazine Limelight, which aims to shine a spotlight on the real people of Salford.

“Irene is a great character and very well loved by her friends and neighbours, so she was the natural choice to be our cover girl and to help us launch our latest edition of the magazine, and we hope she will treasure this experience.”