BORN on the same month as the ‘fairies at the bottom of the garden’ photographs were taken, Ellen Gardner’s life was far from enchanting, but her motto of “work hard and never give up” has kept her in good stead as she celebrated her 100th birthday on Friday 21st July.

She was only three when her mother died and was brought up by her grandparents during the latter part of the First World War when bread rationing was introduced, but on leaving school she worked as a domestic servant on several estates in Warwickshire.

She married George, a shepherd and farm worker from Priors Hardwick in 1937, Ellen was working in the neighbouring village of South Ham.

They had three children. It was a hard life living in a tied cottage and Ellen had to carry water to the house with a yoke, but it was this determination that led her to lead a resolute and religious life.

She always gained a great deal of comfort from her church and maintained her long life was down to ‘him upstairs’!

George died in the early fifties leaving her to bring up her three children aged four, eight and 12.

Later in life, she worked as a cook at a girls school in Derbyshire - a job she loved and where the girls often kept in touch after she left - and a receptionist at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary until her retirement.

She lived near her daughter in Abergavenny for eight years until moving to Gibraltar House where she has enjoyed life for the past two years.

She is an avid tennis fan and has five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Unlike the ‘fairies’ pictures, which was a hoax not admitted by the child creators until 1981, Ellen has always believed in keeping her thoughts as thoughts.

And her secret to a long life is her ‘work hard’ ethic and the fact that she has never taken any medication apart from the odd aspirin.