Today something special is happening... no, not the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, though I am sure that will be an amazing spectacle.

Today someone who has been the 'wind beneath the wings' of others reaches her one hundredth birthday.

Wife of a repsected and much-published Baptist minister and former college principal, she knows from the inside what manse life and college life are like

House-mother and health-worker in East London during WWII she has seen grinding poverty, the consequences of poor education and too easy access to intoxicating liquor.

Involved in caring for children rescued via kinder-transport; foster mother to wartime refugees; and mother to two children of her own.

Stalwart of her Welsh Baptist chapel, and following her husband to such diverse places as the Wirral and Borehamwood before reaching Glasgow.

And for me, the gentle voice of encouragment, the winning smile, the kindly word when a service, carefully prepared and achingly wrought has been delivered.

As the inescapable march of time carries with it her short term memory, she is often heard to say "my mother-in-law had a saying "It's a job to know"" and it is a job to know - a job to know what to say in celebration of a life wll lived, generously and selflessly, passing on love and Christian values to family, friends and neighbours.

Today we will be celebrating with someone who is not "the wife and widow of R E O White" but who is  loved and revered in her own right.

HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY & EVERY BLESSING GWYNETH WHITE