KEMPSEY'S oldest resident will celebrate her 100th birthday with a party fit for a Queen!

Although Elsie Morris will not reach her centenary until tomorrow, more than 150 relatives, friends and villagers will pack St Mary's Church today, to toast the grand lady of the village.

To help get the celebrations off to a flying start, the Salvation Army brass band will be playing songs selected by Elsie herself.

Among the guests will be her son Henry and daughter-in-law Janet - with whom she lives in Old Road South - her four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

"The party just snowballed and we had to hold it in St Mary's Church because we couldn't find anywhere else big enough," said Janet.

"Gran, as we call her, is really looking forward to her party. It was her idea to have the Salvation Army band because she said if the Queen Mum could have a brass band for her birthday, then so could she!

"She has a brilliant mind and reads a lot. She gets out to church on a Sunday and has her hair done every Friday, so she enjoys life."

An excited Elsie said: "I'm really looking forward to my party tomorrow. I don't feel 100. People who are a lot younger than me look old and I feel younger than them!"

She added that she loved the Salvation Army and was looking forward to hearing the band at her special party.

Throughout her long life, Elsie has seen many changes including the invention of the television. She has lived through two world wars and watched as man first walked on the moon.

Born in Alvechurch, near Bromsgrove, on March 4, 1901, she was educated at secondary school in Redditch and had her first job at the age of 15, in the wages office of Millwoods, a company which made fishing tackle and needles, later moving into the sales ledger department.

She married husband Claude in 1937, and moved to Kempsey, where she has lived ever since.

Instead of presents for her big party, Elsie, a life long member of the church, has asked people to donate money to Barnardos and also to the Salvation Army.