A GREAT-grandmother who has lived in Oxford her entire life is set to become a centenarian.

Littlemore resident Win Bostock will celebrate her 100th birthday tomorrow<<March 15>>, at a party in Cowley with 80 family members and friends.

She said: "I've had a good life. It doesn't really feel any different to be 100."

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Asked for her secret to a long and healthy life, Mrs Bostock said: "Just keep going, that's what I say."

The fashion-forward gran was diagnosed with myeloma cancer in 2013 and credits staff in the cancer and haematology department at Oxford's Churchill Hospital for saving her life.

Mrs Bostock said: "They are marvellous there, I wouldn't be here without them."

She is still mobile and gets out and about despite also having broken her hip last year.

She joked: "They all say that I'm down one minute, but I keep popping back up again."

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She has four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and is one of six siblings.

Mrs Bostock was born Win Bedlow at her grandmother's home in Howard Street, East Oxford, and grew up just around the corner at a house in Silver Road.

Asked about her childhood memories, she said: "It was lovely. I loved having a big family."

As a girl she attended Cowley St John School which was then in Cowley Road, before leaving at the age of 14 and embarking on office work at the Co-op in George Street.

She then went to work at offices in the co-op arcade in Cowley Road and longed to work in the shoe shop there, which she eventually did.

However, it was cut short by war service, which saw Mrs Bostock head to the Morris Motors car factory in Cowley at the 50 MU (Maintenance Unit).

She said she remembers where she was when the war was declared over the radio – in Littlemore, at the family home of her future husband Ronald.

The pair met at a dance at Littlemore Village Hall in 1937, when she was 17.

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They married in 1941 at St Mary and St John Church and moved to Littlemore, which is where Mr Bostock grew up.

She said: "We used to live down Chapel Lane, we lived there for 20 years.

"I've seen it change a lot - the bypass wasn't there. We used to walk over the fields to Iffley."

Mr and Mrs Bostock had two children - Michael Bostock, now 74, and Hilary Coleman, now 68.

She returned to work when they were old enough and held jobs including at a chemists in Cowley centre, and on the men's suit and trouser section at Marks & Spencer, before retiring at the age of 60.

Mrs Bostock fondly recalled how she and her husband loved to dance, and they had 61 years of happy marriage before he passed away.

She said she is a Strictly Come Dancing fan, adding: "I would love to wear one of those lovely frocks. I do like nice clothes."

She still manages to get out and about to meet friends there or at the Silver Threads club in Rose Hill.