A LONG-STANDING Didcot resident celebrated a "hard-working" 100 years of life with a party.

Freda Walker, neé Reeves, of Blake's Field, was surrounded by family and friends when she received her birthday card from the Queen.

She was excited to be having a birthday party with more than 70 guests, but she worried the Queen had forgotten about her because the post did not turn up until noon.

Her family has a reputation for long life as all her eight brothers and sisters made it into their nineties - but Mrs Walker is the only one to have made it to 100.

With 19 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren, she has had 54 descendants to help carry on her family's gene for longevity.

She said: "It is having a hard-working but happy life that has kept me going."

Although Mrs Walker has lived in Didcot for the past 80 years, she originally came from Wootton Bassett near Swindon in Wiltshire and left school at 14 to work as a servant.

She married a carpenter, Wilfred Walker, in 1926 at the local church before the couple moved a year later to Didcot, where she got a job as a clerical worker.

Her son, Mike Walker, said: "My mother was always out in Didcot and was a familiar figure shopping in the Broadway.

"Until 18 months ago, she could get about on her own.

"For 70 years she attended All Saints Church when time permitted.

"Today, many people in the town ask after her and are surprised to hear she is celebrating her 100th birthday.

"The one thing people remember about her is she is orientated around her family."

Mrs Walker lived in Vauxhall Barracks - known as "The Camp".

Her husband worked at the Ordnance Depot until he retired in 1964. He died in 1975.

They had seven children who have settled in Didcot, Wallingford, Suffolk, York and France, although their oldest daughter died in 1995.

Mrs Walker, born on June 15, 1907, is well known for her knitting skills and she has made hundreds of different items for her family and friends.