A FINAL farewell has been given to an 111-year-old from the North-East who was the oldest woman in the country.

Eunice Bowman, from Gateshead, died peacefully last Thursday, a little over a month before her 112th birthday.

About 130 of her family and friends gathered at St Alban’s Church, in Windy Nook, Gateshead, yesterday.

The Reverend Alan Raine said: “When someone lives to be 111- year-old, like Eunice, a life that has spanned three centuries, nearly all one’s close friends and family have gone ahead.

“I am sure that is the case for Eunice, but she has had a close family who have supported her and kept her going.”

Mrs Bowman, was born on August 23, 1889, and was 111 and 327 days old when she died.

Mrs Bowman was born in Wigan, Lancashire, but moved to the North-Easty’s oldest woman with her family in 1905.

She was the second of 12 children in a family that settled in Felling, Gateshead, so her father Thomas could find work in the mines.

In 1919, she married Robert Pearson and they had four children, Norman, Tommy, Doris and Connie. But her husband contracted tuberculosis in 1928 and died that year.

In December 1941, she married for a second time and had two children, with Frank Bowman, Sheila and Ann, but she was widowed again in 1950. She started working in a fish and chip shop with her sister, Annie, and stayed there until she was 84. Her family attributed her long and healthy life to a love of fish.