A NORTH-EAST woman celebrated her 105th birthday yesterday.

Hilda Tinsley lives in the Broadacres sheltered housing complex at Hurworth Place, near Darlington.

Cards and letters congratulating her on her 105th birthday have come from a host of royals, including the Queen, Queen Mother and Prince Charles, as well as Tony Blair.

She was born in Redcar in 1896 and her first job was with the Sisters of Charity, at their house behind Albert Park, Middlesbrough, where part of her duties included cleaning.

She celebrated her 18th birthday in 1914, the year the First World War started.

During the war, Ms Tinsley worked in a munitions factory at Morecambe, where she examined bullets before they were dispatched to the forces.

She celebrated her 21st birthday in a factory, wearing white serge suits, or overalls, and a hair net to protect her clothes and hair from the powders that were used inside the ammunition cases.

Ms Tinsley remembers that the powders tended to bleach hair, and many of the women at the factory deliberately left strands of hair out of their hair nets to achieve a highlight effect.

When the Second World War started she was 43, and again worked in a munitions factory, but on that occasion, at Aycliffe.

During this time she dropped a heavy shell on her toe, the effects of which she still feels today.

Ms Tinsley said she did not know why she had lived so long, but she keeps active by doing her own cooking, and enjoying herself.

"I do what I want to do. I like my television and I like doing my own work, and shopping, going to the theatre and rides out," she said.

To celebrate her day the Kings Division Waterloo Band played at her flat, and she enjoyed a party with friends, family and other residents.