Ask Nellie Stockford about the secret of a long life and there's a simple answer - meat and puddings.

And Mrs Stockford, of Freehold Street, Lower Heyford, should know - she's celebrating her 100th birthday tomorrow with a tea party arranged by family and friends.

The village hall party will be a real family affair - Mrs Stockford's brother Lloyd and twin sisters Dolly and Enid also live in the village.

"I've lived so long by working very hard all my life and eating good plain food like meat, vegetables and puddings," she said.

"I've really been looking forward to celebrating my birthday but I'll be glad when it's all over because it's very tiring!"

Mrs Stockford, who reached her century yester- day, was born in Lower Heyford, the eldest of ten children, and spent much of her youth working as a scullery maid at Evenley Hall, near Brackley.

"That was very hard work because I had to skin all the rabbits and the wages were nothing like what people are paid nowadays," she said.

She married her husband Ralph in Whitby when she was 32, after spending some years travelling around the country with him as part of a travelling crane business.

After Ralph died, aged 64, Mrs Stockford returned to Lower Heyford.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.