A TEA party at Ridgeway House, Royal Wootton Bassett, on Friday was a highlight of Vera Locke's 103rd birthday. "It was all very nice, and I was pleased that my granddaughter from Bournemouth was able to be here," Mrs Locke said.

Mrs Locke (nee Walker) was born at Mildenhall, near Marlborough, and started work in service at Folly Farm in Savernake Forest on the day she left school at 14. "I'd never been away from home before, even for a day," said Mrs Locke, who grew up in a family of eight. "I had four brothers and three sisters, and our parents had to scrape along, to look after us all. My mum used to cut up old clothes and make new ones from the material. She lived to be 94 and Dad to 86. They were both from the Devizes area."

At 18, Mrs Locke went to work in London, at a big house in Wimbledon, where she was soon being courted by the regular window cleaner. They were married in 1934 and lived in London until the outbreak of the Second World War, when Mr Locke went into the Army and Vera and their daughter returned to live at her parents' smallholding in Purton.

After the war, the family moved to a newly built house at Reid's Piece, Purton, where their second daughter was born in 1948. Mrs Locke, who was widowed 44 years ago, moved to Wootton Bassett in the 1980s and lived independently until last October, when she settled into Ridgeway House after several weeks in hospital.

"I knew I'd got to the stage where I couldn't look after myself properly any more. Everybody likes to have their own home, but the time comes when you have to do something else," Mrs Locke said. "I have a nice room here with a view of the garden, and I go down in the lift for meals. There isn't much to complain about. I used to enjoy gardening and I look forward to going out in the summer, but it has to be warm for me to want to sit outside!

"I've had so many lovely cards and flowers for my birthday. We put some of the flowers in the day room, because I already have so many in here. People have been so kind."

Mrs Locke, who used to do a lot of knitting, has given up that hobby since she fell and hurt her shoulder a while ago. She likes reading the newspaper, watches TV news and keeps in touch with family and friends by phone. Both her daughters live in the area, at Purton and Cirencester, and she loves to hear news of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"I'm a bit hard of hearing, and my memory's not what it was, but I try my best to look as nice as I can, and I enjoy seeing people who pop in," she said. "I'm glad I'm not being a nuisance to my daughters. I've been on my own for so long that I don't need a lot of company. I've always found something to do, and often now it's having a doze!"