A PENSIONER got a unique birthday surprise this week -she found out she was actually 100 as her own 99th party was about to start.

Connie Cummins believed she was celebrating her 99th birthday and told everyone at the Oak Mount day centre, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, where she plays bingo and dominoes, that she was one short of her centenary.

Even her family did not realise she had reached her 100th birthday, with her daughter, Edna Stringer, believing her mother was about to be 98.

When Mrs Cummins found out she was 100, she said she felt more like 25.

Her true age would never have been revealed had the pensions department not decided to do a routine check, asking Mrs Cummins to produce her birth certificate.

Mrs Stringer said: "We could not find the certificate and had to get a copy. And there it was -she was born in 1903."

Her family in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, had to have a quick re-think of her birthday celebrations to mark the day.

Granddaughter Carol Smith said: "When we realised she was 100, I raced into town to find all the things we needed to mark a 100th birthday."

Mrs Cummins has a grandson, Gary, a grand-daughter Carol, and a 14-month-old great-grand-daughter, Georgia.