A 101-year-old woman from Conwy celebrated her birthday by raising £101 through challenging visitors to solve a coded message at the RSPB Conwy reserve.
Mrs Ryland- who has been a regular visitor to the RSPB Conwy reserve for many years- raised the money by getting people to give 50p for each attempt to solve the coded message. The first correct guess would get the prize money, some of which had been donated by Mrs Ryland’s family.
The eventual winner Sue Cook and her son Max were invited to meet Mrs Ryland and share some of her 101 Dalmatians birthday cake in the coffee shop at the reserve. As the prize money was awarded, they said that they wished to donate the prize money to support the work of the RSPB at Conwy.
Mrs Cook said: “We enjoyed the amazing birdlife so much on our visit here, that we decided the best place for the money was the reserve itself, its a beautiful place!”
Helen Jowett, Visitor Experience Manager for RSPB Conwy, said ‘Mrs Ryland’s 101st birthday is a very special occasion, and it has been made even more memorable with the kindness shown both by the family of Mrs Ryland in their fundraising for the reserve and by the winners of the code breaker deciding to donate the prize money to the RSPB reserve. I would like to thank everyone involved, and look forward to seeing Mrs Ryland on her regular visits to the RSPB Coffee shop.’