FAMILY and friends helped lifelong Wiltshire resident Winnifred Connor celebrate her 100th birthday last week.

Better known as Winnie, she opened 70 cards at her party and was delighted to receive a telegram from the Queen.

Her nephew, Clifford Bainton, 72, of Kenilworth Gardens, Melksham, put her long life down to her fun-loving nature and healthy lifestyle.

He said: "She enjoys life and has always been the life and soul of the party."

Mrs Connor was the fourth child of Alfred and Annie Bainton, born at Turleigh near Bradford on Avon on November 27, 1903.

She attended Winsley School before working at McCalls, the cloth merchants, in Trowbridge.

Here she met George and they were married in 1924. After living at Bond Street, Trowbridge, they moved to West Street where their son Michael was born. He died in a road accident in March 1958, aged 25.

Mrs Connor's husband died in 1977 and she lived alone until her brother Percy, who had lost his wife, moved in.

The siblings later moved to Ashmead Court and lived together until 1995 when Percy died of a stroke, aged 95.

Mrs Connor remained at the house until August last year when she also suffered a stroke. After spending some time at the RUH in Bath and the stroke unit at Westbury Hospital, she moved into Mavern Nursing Home, Whitley.