GERTRUDE Tippetts’ energy and zest for life belie the age of this popular Springfield House resident who has enjoyed celebrating her 100th birthday with family and friends in Royal Wootton Bassett.

She has lived in Wootton Bassett since 1998, and is fond of the town . She enjoys her cosy flat at Springfield House, where she is a former chairman of the residents’ committee, and used to organise sales and events. She was for some years a member of the town Flower Club, with her daughter Janet, who lives locally. Gertrude (nee Fishlock), the youngest of six children, was born in Avebury, when her father was in Turkey, on active service in the First World War. He was also a veteran of the Boer War. Sadly, they never met, as he died when she was eight months old. His name, William Fishlock, is on the war memorial in Avebury Church.

By the time Gertrude was three years old, her mother was bedridden with paralysis, and she and three of her siblings went to live with an aunt and uncle who already had seven children of their own, and ran a small farm.

“I went to school at Oare and then at Cadley, in the Forest, where uncle rented from the Ailesbury Estate,” Mrs Tippetts recalled. “After leaving school I went into domestic service. I met my husband, Albion, at Marlborough Fair, and we were married at the Register Office, two days before Edward VIII’s abdication.

“We were married for 39 years and now, as well as three sons and two daughters, I have 15 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.”

“My husband was called up to serve in the Second World War, but was invalided out with an injury. We lived at Winterbourne Monkton and I ran the post office and shop,” Mrs Tippetts recalled. Later, she worked at Yatesbury Camp, where her husband was a driver until, on her own again, she moved into a flat in Marlborough and worked at the College until she was 70.

Looking back over her eventful life She said: “I have enjoyed myself! I still enjoy coffee mornings, and visits to the Lorna Doone Day Centre.” She has always liked knitting and sewing, and made wonderful dance dresses for her daughters. She also knitted baby clothes for the hospital.

Holidays have included many parts of England, Scotland, and Wales, and a three-week trip to Malta. She is a sociable, friendly, appreciative person who takes a keen interest in the news and is keen on all kinds of sport, from football (which she will happily enjoy all afternoon, when a big match is on TV) to darts and snooker. “In my younger days I used to help with cricketing teas at Avebury, and I supported Swindon Town football,” she said. “I used to go to speedway with my grandsons, too.”

Her immediate family is nearby, in the Swindon area and in Hampshire. The furthest away is a granddaughter in Melbourne, Australia. “We’ve spoken on the phone” Mrs Tippetts said. “I also have a lot of relatives and friends in the Marlborough and Pewsey area. I think I’m very lucky, and to be as well as I am, too.”

She has received shoals of greetings, and is particularly thrilled with a card from HM the Queen.