AN APPEAL has been launched to lift the spirits of a “proud Cumbrian” on her 100th birthday. Mary Taylor will become a centenarian on April 14 and as the St Bees native will still be shielding by then due to the risks of Covid-19, her family has launched an appeal for birthday cards to make her smile through lockdown. Ryan Pearse, husband to Mary’s granddaughter Victoria has co-ordinated the appeal. He said that although Mary now lives in Hertfordshire: “she is a proud Cumbrian who speaks with such love and affection of her home village of St Bees. “Whenever we’ve been up there she takes great pride in recounting all of her memories, times and tales from her days in her native Cumberland as she still calls it.”