MARY Fryer celebrated her 100th birthday in style by being treated as a queen for the day.

Mary, a resident of Fonteine Court, a retirement complex in Ross-on-Wye had a full English breakfast delivered to her door along with an array of birthday cards.

Mary said that this was totally unusual and thought to herself that something suspicious was happening at the complex.

She was right and when she appeared from her room, she was welcomed by the sound of bagpipes and a guard of honour provided by fellow residents, family members and friends as she made her way to the community room, where a party had been laid on for her.

As she entered the room, which was full of even more friends and family members she was congratulated on her birthday by the mayor of Ross, Cllr Bev Pope.

Mary, a sprightly woman for her age took it all in and said it was a shame her husband wasn’t here to celebrate it with her.

Mary, who grew up in Llangarron was a teenager when she met her husband-to-be on July 8,, 1942. She and Stan Fryer rushed to the scene of a crashed Wellington Bomber in the village which resulted in two of the four crew members losing their lives.

It is recorded that the bomber had lost its way after a training flight in Cardigan Bay. However, when the pilot was about to make a forced landing into a field of growing corn, an extremely valuable food source in the wartime era and tried to take evasive action, but clipped an oak tree in the churchyard which caused the wing to become detached. The bomber pancaked into land opposite the church.

Mary and Stan’s friendship that developed at the disaster site turned into love and eventually marriage.

Mary has many cuttings of these events as well as mementos or many other aspects of her life with Stan.

Mary said the recipe for living to such a milestone birthday was to eat healthily by having meat and two veg every day and not smoking.

“My mother warned me against smoking,” she said.

“I didn’t know about this party, but I had my suspicions when my breakfast arrived. I’ve been treated like a queen today.”

Fontaine Court and its residents and friends clubbed together to get Mary a special bench complete with a brass plaque to commemorate her 100th birthday.

Stephen Amos, a fellow resident said he was privileged to be a friend and neighbour of Mary and said: “Getting to be 100 is a great achievement. I’ve only known her for eight years, so that’s 92 years unaccounted for.

“I am delighted to see her greater family and friends who’ve know her for a lot longer than we have at Fonteine Court.

“I’ve learnt a lot about Mary, who seems to have been at the centre of everything that went on in Llangarron. She is said to have ‘played’ Stan when he was courting her, by not making herself available to him.

“Today, Mary does not fill the role of a little old lady. She is as competitive as ever when she plays any sort of game. She plays to win. If you get in her way, you do so at your peril.

“Not so many years ago I took Mary and her sister Joan to Hereford Hospital where she showed off her ability to touch her toes, a task that many of the medical staff were unable to compete with her.”