A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER whose family has always been at the centre of her life has celebrated her 101st birthday.

Isabel Brown celebrated her special day with family and friends at Willington Care Village yesterday.

Surrounded by flowers and cards, she enjoyed a delicious birthday lunch at the home, where she has lived happily for ten years.

Mrs Brown nee Collingwood was born in Helme Park near Tow Law in 1913 and attended the village school, before finding work as a chamber maid at Helme Park Hall, which was a private residence at the time.

At the age of 21, she married John William Brown, who lived nearby, and the pair moved to Sunniside, near Crook.

The couple later settled in Howden-le-Wear, and had two children, William, 79, and Brian, who sadly passed away in his early 50s.

Mr Brown died in 1953 and Mrs Brown never remarried.

Her son William Brown said: “She has always been a family-orientated person and lived frugally. She never had anything in excess.”