FAMILY and friends of a Chester-le-Street woman celebrated her 100th birthday.

West House Nursing Home, on Waldridge Road, was decked out with banners and balloons for Neil Scott's big day. A party was held for 25 residents with entertainment from local singer Robyn Martin.

Mrs Scott's nephew John Walker said: "She was a bit overwhelmed at first with all the fuss that was being made but then she started to relax and enjoy herself.

"She was very pleased that everybody enjoyed the day."

Born in Berwick, Mrs Scott's family moved to County Durham when her father got a job in the coalfield before the First World War.

She became a school teacher and worked in Grange Villa, Chester-le-Street, until she married her late husband, Jack.

The couple moved to Ilkley, West Yorkshire, before living in Cambridge where Mr Scott was a headteacher and Mrs Scott was a school matron during the Fifties.

They retired to Ripon, but Mr Scott died in the late Seventies. Mrs Scott returned to Chester-le-Street in the Nineties

Mr Walker said: "She is a very intelligent lady, well educated and very artistic.

"She was ahead of her time because she came from a big family with not much money but managed to go to college and did very well with her career and work."