HUNDREDS of people have wished a Wrexham veteran their best wishes as he spends his second birthday in lockdown.

Geoffrey Patrick - known as Geoff – marked the special day he turned 105 with wife Jean at their Llay home on March 27.

He celebrated with doorstep visits and received lots of well wishes in birthday cards – including some from Wrexham mayor Cllr Rob Walsh on behalf of Wrexham Council and the Queen.

They were not the only birthday messages he received – with hundreds wishing him a happy birthday virtually.

Proud niece Joanna Price made several social media posts on local Facebook groups which were met with hundreds of comments.

Now, she tells the Leader how she is compiling them all into a printed book for Geoff to keep.

She said: “Thanks to social media, he has had over 700 messages including many from Llay but also from across the country and from people as far as Canada, the US and Australia.

“Most don’t know him personally but they wanted to send birthday greetings and messages of respect for his service to his country.

“There were so many messages I am still printing them all out for him, but he is enjoying reading them. It’s given him a bit of a boost after the year we have all had and it was lovely that so many people were able to share the celebration even if from a distance.”

Geoff also had a cake made that featured sweet versions of the medals he acquired from his time in service.

Geoff served in the Royal Army Service Corps, spending three and a half years of the war on the front line of the North African Campaign.

He was a dispatch motorcycle rider, a vital cog in the Allied lines of communication who would often come under enemy fire, once resulting in shrapnel getting caught in his neck.

One of Geoff`s other roles was with the Royal Engineers, preparing airfields for the Allied planes to operate from.

Towards the end of the Second World War, Geoff was involved in the Italian Campaign advancing on Sicily, through Italy and on to Austria.

After the war, Geoff settled in Wrexham where he married his beloved Jean in 1947.