A GREAT, great grandmother could well be Barry’s oldest woman at 105 years old.

Lily Collier, of Cardiff Road, Barry, marked her 105th birthday with a party at Cadoxton Conservative Club on Saturday, June 9 and a visit to Bar 44 on Sunday, June 10.

Mrs Collier was at home when the postman delivered a message from Queen Elizabeth II on her birthday, Monday, June 11.

Mrs Collier was born in Robert Street, Barry and attended Holton Road school, leaving aged 14.

“I left on the Friday and I started work on the Monday,” she recalled. “I went to work on the Island.They had an open-air theatre. I was selling tickets, but it didn’t work out because of the filthy weather. I went to work in the Gwalia restaurant.”

She married Stanley Collier, who was a ship’s cook at sea and worked on the docks as a crane driver and he died, aged 90. They had two children – Brian, 80, and Marilyn, 75, now Hellyar.

Mrs Collier has five grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and four great, great grandchildren.

She currently enjoys attending bingo three or four times a week at the Victoria Park community and Belvedere Crescent community halls and she is renowned for her homemade Welsh Cakes.

She added: “I don’t know the secret of a long life.

“I’m just me.”