Bellringers at St Matthew's Church, Harwell, rang a quarter peal to mark the 100th birthday of Mabel Stevens.

Although Mrs Stevens is too frail to attend church regularly, she invariably opens the window of her sheltered accommodation home in nearby Cherry Tree Court to hear the bells -- which are among her favourite pleasures.

Born in Cardiff, she grew up in south Wales, the eldest of six children. Their father was a railwayman, and Mabel also married a railwayman, Percy. The couple moved briefly to Wallingford, then to Didcot, where they lived in Orchard Crescent for 45 years.

They had no children and Mrs Stevens' husband, who became a head shunter and a railway inspector, died in 1972.

She remembers the Coronation of George V in 1910 when the local children had a special tea party.

She left school at the age of 13 and worked as a shop assistant, while also helping her mother with the housework and weekly laundry.

"I have happy memories of our childhood and I have always been a contented person," she said.

Guests at her birthday party included her 98-year-old brother.