THE occasional milk stout and keeping busy has helped Millie Leng reach her 100th birthday.

Mrs Leng celebrated the milestone on Thursday at the Hackworth House nursing home, in Shildon, with grandaughter, Cheryl, and friends.

One of six children, Mrs Leng was born in Quarry Top, Shildon, and moved to Eldon Lane with her family when she was six.

She helped at home until she was 25, when she went to work at Bishop Auckland Girls Grammar School as an assistant cook for five years.

Mrs Leng married her husband, Tom, in 1931. They had one son. She has one grandaughter, Cheryl.

Durham County Council chairman Councillor Alan Fenwick, Councillor Keith Henderson and the leader of Shildon Town Council, Garry Huntington, made a presentation to Mrs Leng to mark the occasion