AS SHE celebrates her 100th birthday today, Lulu Belcher is still turning out regularly to volunteer for charity.

The East Oxford-born centenarian joined the Oxford University Hospital Charity Fund’s team at the age of 94.

An active member of the Garsington Women’s Institute since 1970 Mrs Belcher was far from overawed at the prospect of reaching her century.

She said: “It’s just another day of the week.

“It’s only just beginning to sink in – I had a call from the Palace – I’m sure they were checking I was still alive.”

She added: “I think I’ve used my time well and lived life to the full, and I’ve been very fortunate in my health.”

The former secretary was brought up in East Oxford and her earliest memory was of a landmark day in the country’s history.

She said: “I can just remember the end of the First World War.

“ I remember the neighbour on one side of us shouting to the neighbour on the other ‘it’s all over, it’s all over’.

“I went inside and told my mother – I didn’t know what it meant though.”

Mrs Belcher, whose maiden name was Cross, attended the Central Girls School Oxford in New Inn Hall Street – now part of St Peter’s College.

When she left school at 17, she worked as a secretary at Oxford University Press and later at Cheney School.

The grandmother-of-three met her future husband, Norman Belcher, at Cowley St John’s Cricket, Tennis and Golf Club and the couple married in 1941.

Shortly after Margaret, the first of their two children was born in 1945. Their second child John was born in 1948.

When Mrs Belcher was 94, a friend from WI, Jenny Rothery, encouraged her to get involved with the hospital charity.

They are both fundraising volunteers who mail out any communications from the charity – saving it thousands of pounds each year on paid staff.

Mrs Belcher said: “Jenny asked if I could come and help out at the hospital two days a week and I thought ‘oh yes I suppose I could’.

“It’s a very friendly atmosphere and I like having something to do.

“It’s good to do charity work.

“I went to work and worked hard – I’ve done all that and now I like helping out.”

She has since been president and secretary of Garsington WI as well as newsletter editor for the Oxford Federation of Women’s Institutes.

The hospital charity’s head of fundraising, Jayne Ozanne, says Mrs Belcher must have helped to produce hundreds of thousands of fundraising envelopes.

She said: “We’ve got probably the oldest volunteer in Oxfordshire.

“She’s an inspiration and a great example of someone who has spent a lifetime giving.”