Happy 100th birthday to Northampton school cook Marjorie

Marjorie Wills, born on February 8, 1918, received her birthday card from the Queen last week surrounded by her family and friends.

The Moulton-born great grandmother lived in Northampton until 2013 before she moved to York to be closer to her daughter.

Her eldest daughter, Jacqueline Swann, 77, said: "We had a little party at her care home and her family all came to see her.

"She has two daughters, two granddaughters and five great granddaughters. So we're all girls."

Marjorie, known by many as 'Marg', was born in Moulton in 1918 and moved to Booth Lane when she was a little girl. She lived in the cottages where Northampton College is now built.

She married her husband, a Northampton firefighter named Vincent, in 1939 and they had their first daughter, Jacqueline, in 1941.

But Vincent was taken captive as a prisoner of war during the Second World War and did not come home until 1945.

Jacqueline said: "I didn't meet my father until I was five-years-old. Marjorie really did have a tough life in places."

Reunited, the family moved into a prefabricated house and Marjorie and Vincent had their second daughter in 1946.

In later life, Marjorie worked in a shoe factory, as a cook at Weston Favell College for 17 years, and as a cashier at the town's Woolworths.

Marjorie and Vincent were able to celebrate their platinum anniversary in 2009. Sadly, her husband of over 70 years died in 2013.

She moved out of the town to be closer to her daughter shortly after Vincent's death, and she now lives in residential care in York.

Marjorie celebrated her birthday with a small party with her two daughters, her granddaughter and three of her great granddaughters.