Lilian Hallam celebrated her 100th birthday with a card from the Queen and a party packed with family and friends at Scarr Green sheltered housing in Meltham.

Among her guests was Examiner columnist Denis Kilcommons with whom she has been corresponding for 25 years.

Lilian was a twin. She and her brother Leslie Brown were born in Hill Top, Slaithwaite, but moved to Slack when they were four when her father acquired a fish and chip shop in Outlane.

When her father died the family moved back to the Colne Valley, eventually settling on Ing Head Road.

She married Stuart Hallam in 1940 and they had two sons, Keith and Trevor. Lilian worked as a weaver and also, for a time, ran her own fish and chip shop in Oakes with her sister-in-law, Gladys Hallam.

Lilian and Stuart had been married 55 years when he died in 1995. She has five grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, two great grandchildren and four step-great grandchildren.

Lilian has always been a chapel-goer and attended at Pole Moor and the Zion Chapel at Slaithwaite. Since she became a Scarr Green resident 10 years ago, she has been a regular at Meltham Baptists who ensure she is picked up and taken home each Sunday.

Members of the Baptist chapel also gave her a birthday treat when they took her to the Wetherby Whaler Restaurant at Wakefield for a meal of her favourite fish and chips. She rewarded the diners by singing a hymn.

Denis said: “Lilian is a lady of wit, fun and forthright views and has frequently contributed to the columns I’ve written, offering opinions and information on everything from the Roman fort at Slack to fish and chips.

“At the party a display of photographs spanning her life told her story. One of them showed Lilian climbing aboard a light aircraft for a trip round the tower at Blackpool in the 1930s with a daredevil grin on her face. She and her husband caught the travel bug in the early 1960s and holidayed all over Europe.

“Lilian’s long distance travelling days are over. But the grin is still on her face.”