TRIBUTES have been paid to an 'inspirational and determined' Andover mother who has died at the age of 105.

Molly Higginbotham, who moved to Andover for the first time in 1959 before relocating to the town permanently in 1967, died on Wednesday, October 23.

Molly was born on May 2, 1919, and was the second generation of her family to reach over 100 as her mother lived to the age of 103 said her daughter, Jane.

"When our grandmother was pregnant with Molly, so the story goes, she had to be hauled out of Alcock and Brown’s plane as she fancied being the first woman to fly," she said.

(Image: Jane Higginbotham)

As one of six children, Molly grew up next to the Brooklands Race Circuit, in Weybridge, spending her time sitting on the bank, and even starting a 'gang' with her siblings called the Batten Urchins as they slid down the circuit on bits of wood.

She began working at the Hawker Aircraft factory in Brooklands, following in her father's, and brothers' footsteps.

During the Second World War, Molly was in charge of ensuring that the telephone switchboard was being manned.

The factory was a major target for bombs during this time, as it manufactured the Hawker Hurricane fighter plane.

During a heavy air raid on September 13, 1942, the telephones were put out of action, with Molly being asked to run back into the flaming building, as an unexploded bomb had dropped, to switch the telephones to a working line.

"She did this without hesitation in spite of the great risk to her own life, because of the importance of keeping everything working," Jane recounted, adding that a memorial plaque remains thanking Molly for her bravery.

Molly met her husband, George, after the Second World War. George was an RAF pilot and had been captured in Dunkirk in 1940, spending the next five years as a prisoner of war in the Stalag Luft 3, where the Great Escape took place.

The pair got married in 1948, with Molly giving birth to her first child, John in 1951 and two twin girls, Mary and Jane, in 1953.

Jane said that a standout memory of her mum was when she and her sister were born in Finningly, North Yorkshire.

"She had face powder loose in a compact and was applying it and lipstick ready for dad's arrival on the maternity ward.

"Since this was a poor coal mining area many of the women wanted to do the same for their men so she packaged the face powder up and sent it 'round the ward."

The family travelled around the world as George was posted in a number of locations by the RAF, including Singapore, before settling in Andover and buying a house in Winchester Gardens.

George died in 1994 at the age of 80 from Alzheimer's, with Molly 'determined to look after him right to the end'. She moved to Yeovil in 2018.

Jane remembers many key pieces of advice offered to her by her mother, including 'out of bad comes some good' and 'if you can't say something good say nothing'.

She was also described as a 'glass half full optimist' who advised that the best thing to do when you're feeling down is 'wear bright clothes and go shopping'.

Molly drank a glass of sherry every day at sundown, and used to tell her daughter: "It's never too early dear, the sun has always gone down somewhere in the world."

She received cards from both Queen Elizabeth and King Charles, on her 100th and 105th birthday respectively, something which delighted Molly as a 'great Royalist'.

An estimated 560 people were aged 105 or older in England and Wales in 2023, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Molly's funeral will take place at All Saints Church in Upper Clatford on a date yet to be confirmed.