A KIDDERMINSTER centenarian celebrated her landmark birthday in style by getting well wishes from the Queen.

Mary Patricia Jukes turned 100 on Saturday (April 28) and was joined by dozens of family and friends for a champagne buffet party at her home in Spennells, Kidderminster.

And the occasion was made complete when she received her card from The Queen congratulating her on her special day.

Pat – as she is commonly known – was born in South Wales in 1918. The miner’s daughter of William and Mary Helen Stephens was sent to Exeter to do domestic service at a boarding school at the age of 14 before moving to Bath to work as a maid.

She moved to Birmingham four years later to work in her uncle’s pub. In 1937, she met the love of her life Leslie Albert Jukes, who was training in commercial art before making ammunition during the Second World War.

Soon after the war, he was one of the first to set-up an advertising business in Central Birmingham while Pat worked as a chef, first at British Leyland and then at Longbridge.

They later moved to Lickey Hills, near Bromsgrove and then Malvern Hills where they ran a shop. Sadly, Les died aged 72 in 1986 and Pat moved to her present Kidderminster home in 1989.

The couple has four children and Pat is now a grandmother to eight, a great-grandmother to 14 and a great-great-grandmother to four.

Her youngest son Graham, who is her carer said his mother still takes good care of herself and looks decades younger than her 100 years.

He said: “Even though she struggles daily with weakening mobility and only has about 60 per cent of her vision being registered as partially-sighted with macular degeneration, she still manages to take care of herself and still helps to prepare meals and do daily cleaning duties about her bungalow.

“It is this that keeps her going - and her daily shots of blended whisky, that is! Her doctor said once that she must have good genes.

“Many people say she looks remarkable for her age, appearing at least twenty years younger.

“This is down to very few ageing lines on her skin and also that she maximises a younger look by keeping her hair maintained. Her grand-daughter Angeline does this for her.”