Centenarian Edith Chipping proves she is still a party girl at heart as she celebrates turning 102 today.
The great grandmother's big day is today, but she has already started the festivities, with a huge party at St Giles Hotel, in Feltham, on Saturday night.
Her enormous brood, including three children, 11 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren, packed into the hall, along with friends and extended family, to enjoy music, dancing and singing.
And Edith, who now lives at Sandbanks Residential Home, in Bedfont, will continue the celebrations today with a family lunch.
"We're a very close family and were delighted to be able to share this special birthday with mum," said her son, Brian Chipping, 65, of Hereford.
"She's a very forward-thinking person, who has never dwelt too much on the past, and I think that's probably the secret to her long life."
Edith moved to Sandbanks three years ago but had spent the past 58 years living in Barnlea Close, Hanworth. She moved to the town with her husband Ted in 1937, from a mining village in the Rhonda Valley, in Wales.
The couple married in 1929 just months after meeting in hospital, where Ted was a patient and Edith was visiting her poorly brother.
They had four children, including Beryl, who passed away three years ago, Valerie, 72, Norma, 69, and Brian.
As a young woman she cared for the children full-time but later worked as an assembler at a plating factory in Hanworth Trading Estate, where she stayed until 1979.
After Ted's death in 1960, Edith took up ballroom dancing where she made plenty of new friends and picked up dozens of awards.
"She had a hard life in the early years, with the Depression," said Brian. "But I think it got better.And her positive attitude has certainly helped. She's a great woman and very lively and fun."
For her birthday Edith received dozens of gifts, including clothes, chocolates and biscuits.
