Celebrations were held last Monday (26th July) for Margaret Helen O'Connell of Osbaston as she turned 100.

Mrs O'Connell, who was born in Monmouth, was accompanied by family and friends for a buffet to mark the occasion.

Mrs O'Connell was born in 12 Drybridge Street in 1910 and went to Overmonnow School for Girls.

When she left school, she undertook a job as a nurse maid and from there went to work at the laundrette on Monnow Street.

Here she spent seven years, from 7am to 7pm, ironing with a great, heavy, steel iron.

"I always worked hard," she said.

"After working in the launderette I had jobs cleaning five different houses and I worked in Mr Bond's Wire Factory until I was 80."

Mrs O'Connell married her school sweetheart, John William O'Connell in 1945, at the age of 35, in Pontypool registry office.

Being neighbours, the two had grown up together and despite going their own separate ways after school, they were lucky enough to bump into each other at a dance at the Buckholt.

They set up home in Monmouth, living in several places before taking up residence in Forge Cottages, Osbaston, in 1953. Mrs O'Connell still lives there today.