ONE of the region's oldest residents has celebrated her 107th birthday.

Jeannie Pattison reached the grand old age yesterday, when she enjoyed a party with family and friends at Howlish Hall Nursing Home in Coundon, County Durham.

The pensioner puts her longevity down to drinking hot water first thing on a morning and last thing at night, and hard work.

Born in Inverness, she moved to Scarborough aged three months with her parents, and stayed until she was a teenager, witnessing the bombing of the town in the First World War.

She then worked in service at The Grove, in Hamsterley, County Durham, and stayed at Castle Howard before marrying husband Bill when she was 21.

Her mother, brothers and sisters then emigrated to New Zealand but she stayed in England, and has lived in the Bishop Auckland area for about 70 years.

She had six children, three of whom survive, and has 15 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.

One of her grandchildren, Pauline Dowson, 53, from Evenwood, County Durham, said: "She's not had an easy life and she's worked very hard. But she's still got her sense of humour.

"The care home has been absolutely superb in caring for her over the last four years. She's such a character."