A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER who still lives in her own home has received her fifth card from the Queen, as she celebrates her 105th birthday.

Elsie King, of St Leonard’s Lane, Wallingford, was nine when the First World War broke out, and has lived in the same house for 77 years.

On Tuesday she hosted a tea party for friends and family, to cele-brate her latest milestone.

Born in Wallingford, and growing up in Cholsey, she was brought up by her mother after her father died of consumption during the First World War.

She said: “I went out to work as a housemaid in London when I was 15, after I had turned down an offer to go to grammar school.

“My mother was a widow then, and she would not have been able to afford it, so I did not say anything about the offer, not thinking that she might have been proud if I had gone there.”

She moved into her current house in 1933, only intending to stay a few months – but has never moved. Even at the age of 105, she still keeps the key to nearby St Leonard’s Church. She has been a member of Wallingford’s Sinodun Players amateur drama group for 50 years, doing front of house and costume sewing for decades, and attending performances until she was 100.

She said: “I don’t think there is a secret of getting to my age. It is just a case of going on, and having two wonderful daughters to look after me.” She added: “I have had some very pleasant jobs.”

In previous years, Mrs King’s family have held big parties to celebrate her birthday. She said: “On my 90th birthday, we had a big party outside and it was one of the hottest days for years.”

In 2005, the Sinodun Players held a Champagne reception in her honour at the Corn Exchange, to celebrate her 100th birthday and mark her decades of help.

As well as her latest card from Buckingham Palace, Mrs King also received congratulations from Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, and local MP Ed Vaizey.