Telegram from the Queen for 100-year-old Alice

Alice Burnside turned 100 on April 26.

Mother to Margaret Boothroyd, 70, Susan Parkinson, 63, and Michael Burnside, 62, the 100-year-old is also a grandmother of seven and great grandmother to eight.

Mrs Boothroyd said her mother did not take any nonsense from her children when they were growing up in their Upper Oxford Street Brighouse family home.

She said: “We had a fantastic family party - lots of us were there to celebrate my mother turning 100. She was really overwhelmed.”

The family enjoyed a special birthday cake made by Alice’s daughter Susan.

Margaret said her mother was proud to receive a congratulating telegram from the Her Majesty the Queen.

Mrs Burnside lived independently at Elm Tree Cottages, Bradford Road, until the age of 98 before she moved to The Manor House care home in Lightcliffe.

Mrs Burnside has been married twice and sadly, widowed twice.

As a young woman, Alice was a keen tennis player and a Halifax Harriers runner. She enjoyed regular swimming into her 80s.

She retired from Brighouse employer Wireworks at the age of 62 and enjoyed European holidays in her golden years.