WIDOW Elsie Turner said there was nothing she particularly needed for her birthday when she celebrated her centenary yesterday.

Mrs Turner, 100, of Avocet House in Wycombe Road, Stokenchurch, said: "People ask me what I want for my birthday and if I want a big party, but after 100 years it seems a bit ridiculous to ask me that. There is nothing I need now. I am happy to just sit by my window with a good book."

Elsie's 74-year-old daughter Sheila goes to the library each week and takes out five books for her mother to read.

Elsie married Jack Turner in 1920 after he returned from serving in the marines in the First World War. They received a telegram from the Queen in 1980 to commemorate their diamond wedding.

Mother-of-four Elsie was born in a cottage under the village clock in West Wycombe on October 22, 1898, and has never strayed far from the area since that day more than a century ago.

Elsie has five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren and said the secret to her long life was to take everything in moderation.

She said: "I have never been interested in boozing or bingo. I have kept my brain active and I think that is why I have lived to reach 100 years old."

Elsie had three sons - Douglas, Demie and Ken. During the Second World War, Douglas was wounded in Italy, but recovered to return home. Of the three sons, only Ken survives, and Elsie lives with her daughter Sheila in Stokenchurch.

Sheila said: "My mum has outlived all of her five brothers and sisters, and she will probably go on to outlive Ken and I."

Elsie said: "I have never been much interested in having a big knees-up for my 100th birthday. People can just come round and say happy birthday and have a bit of cake, but that is all I want."

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