BIDDING a final farewell to her terraced home will prove a real wrench for miner's widow Ivy Barker.

For from the day she was born, 82-year-old Ivy has lived in the same house at Number 9 Ascot Street, in Easington Colliery, County Durham.

It was only the tempting offer of a new, centrally-heated bungalow that finally convinced her that the time had come to close the door on a home where the list of mod-cons was topped by little more than a basic inside toilet.

Her progress into 21st Century living accomodation is thanks to the Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association, which has allocated Ivy a two-bedroomed unit at Leech Court, a £878,000 sheltered development, just around the corner from her present home.

Yesterday, at the opening of the 18-bungalow complex, guest of honour Ivy proudly showed visitors around her home, with its airy sitting room, fitted kitchen and luxury bathroom.

A far cry from her three-up- two-down, just 400 yards away, where Ivy was born on May 23, 1918, six months before the end of the Great War.

Her father, Alfred Rockett, had moved to Easington in 1912 to become one of the first miners at the colliery.

His work underground earned him the house in Ascot Street, where he and his wife, Emily, brought up three sons and daughter Ivy in basic but free accommodation.

In 1918, the house was lit by oil lamps, had one cold tap, an outside privvy and a tin bath.

On the street outside, horse drawn carts were the mode of transport in what was then one of the most closely-knit communities in the county.

Ivy remembers securing herself by a cord to clean, not only her own upstairs sash windows, but those of elderly people in the village.

Times were hard but Ivy loved the house where she was born, grew up, married her husband Foster and delivered and reared all three of their children, Marion, Kathleen and John.

"We felt lucky we had a house and we never thought of moving," said Ivy, who still hauls coal up six stone steps from her backyard to her open fire and has to negotiate 16 steps to get to the toilet.

She admits to going to bed at around 6pm to try to keep warm, and still can't imagine what it is going to be like to have touch-button central heating.

As she carries her suitcase out the door for the last time, Ivy will take a lifetime of happy memories with her