A Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) veteran, who skipped her 21st birthday party to join the war effort and then missed rescheduled plans the following year to celebrate VE day, finally got to have her cake.

Iris Sheppard was surprised with a belated birthday cake at the Old Forge Wartime House, in East Street, Sittingbourne.

The Maidstone resident received the surprise just a day after her 99th birthday at the 1940s living museum, which is run by volunteers.

Iris, who had been serving in Northern Ireland when she turned 21 so could not celebrate, had seen her plans for her belated 21st birthday party in Dublin in 1945 scuppered when the Allied Forces’ victory in Europe was announced.

However, 78 years on, after being reunited with May Winter, 99, another WAAF veteran who she’d served alongside, she finally had the celebration she couldn’t have.

Iris said: “I couldn’t have my 21st birthday when I was deployed, so we planned a belated one the following year but that got cancelled because of VE Day.

"The birthday cake was such a surprise and out of this world. All in all it was a really lovely day!”

At the museum, Iris said it was interesting hearing about life as an evacuee.

“Being in the WAAF I was isolated from all of that side of the war," she said. "In fact, they were some of the happiest times of my life."

May and Iris both provided support to the RAF through their service in the WAAF.

It wasn’t until they met at an Inspired Friendships coffee morning that they realised they had served together.

The organisers of Inspired Friendships had the idea to give her the special surprise as it was Iris's 99th birthday the day before she was visiting the museum.

Inspired Friendships decided to make it into a 21st cake too so Iris finally got to celebrate the milestone.

Iris joined the WAAF weeks after she turned 18 in May 1941.

She was posted to locations around the world, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Singapore.

Iris recalls: “You had to accept the discipline side like getting up early.

“I remember we had to have injections for when we went abroad, and I was the only girl who didn’t faint. I can see myself making teas for all the girls who had fainted.”

But the reality of war was never far away. Her fiancé, a Canadian pilot who everyone called Mac, was shot down over Cairo aged just 22.

They had met during a group outing to see Gone With The Wind and the engagement lasted just a few months.

In Singapore, Iris worked for Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia and later the last Viceroy of India.

Next up was Indonesia where she moved to be with her fiancé, Donald Sheppard.

They married in Shropshire and raised two children, David and Anna-Jane.

More recently, Iris founded a WAAF association when she moved to Maidstone.

May recalls joining the WAAF with her sister Doris as ‘the best thing we ever did’. She joined as a cook and was later a leave clerk.

She had various postings around the UK, in Kent, Sussex, Cornwall and Ayrshire, and along the way she met her late husband Lawson (Laurie), with whom she has four sons.

Iris and May were joined at the Old Forge by other members of Inspired Friendships: Renee, 94, Mary, 93, Beryl, 92, Shirley, 91, Olive, 89 and Ann, 88.

Inspired Friendships was launched in 2020 by Inspired Villages to prevent older people living in the communities around an Inspired village from feeling isolated.

The service complements Inspired Villages’ new retirement village, Ledian Gardens, in Leeds, near Maidstone.

Wendy Pfeiffer, one of the creators of the group said: “The visit gave our members a chance to share their memories of that period and the volunteers at the wartime house.

“It was a joy to surprise Iris with her rather belated 21st birthday cake.”

For information on Inspired Friendships click here.