Maisie celebrates 107th birthday

Mrs Eileen Wills, known by her third name, Maisie, marked the milestone at Abbeyfield Parkdale residential home in Tettenhall on Saturday.

She was joined by family and friends to mark the occasion with a buffet lunch and received a host of flowers, plants and chocolates from well-wishers.

Mrs Wills has credited a long life to three square meals a day and an occasional drink.

She was regularly seen catching the bus into Wolverhampton until the age of 103 – the same year as she bought her first washing machine and fridge.

And granddaughter Rachel White said: "I think she's going to outlive the rest of the family. She's had a lovely day. She's had visitors and a buffet lunch and a beautiful cake as well as her fourth card from the Queen."

Rachel added Mrs Wills had received messages from the Queen on her 100th birthday, and then 105th, 106th and 107th.

Mrs Wills was born in Wales, but moved as a child to the Wightwick Manor estate, where her father was head gardener and her mother head chef. The house was owned by industrialists the Mander family.

A former pupil of Christchurch School in Tettenhall Wood, she met her late husband Bert on a trip to Blackpool, and they married in 1943. Four years later, she moved into a three-bedroom semi-detached council house in School Road, Tettenhall Wood, and this would be her home for the next 66 years.

When Mrs Wills reached her centenary she received messages from David Cameron and William Hague among the 97 cards and letters that accompanied the traditional congratulations from the Queen.

Mrs Wills was chairman of Tettenhall and Wightwick Conservative Association for more than 15 years, and her fundraising work for the Conservative Party brought her into contact with many top politicians.

She has a son, called Peter, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.