A FORMER soap maker celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and family.

Florence Winstanley turned 100 on Sunday and was congratulated by son Jeffrey, other loved ones as well as staff at the Oak Lodge residential home in Prestwich, as well as receiving a telegram from the Queen.

Born in 1907, Florence was the seventh child of nine. She lived in Smith Row, Rainsough, regularly attended the old Rainsough Methodist Chapel and was a pupil at Hope Park School, in Bury New Road, until the age of 13.

Her father, William, then asked her to leave school and she joined Cussons Soap Works, which in 1920 was only a small firm. Florence worked there for 33 years. In 1931, aged 24, she married Walter Winstanley and had two children, Jean and Jeffrey.

She lived in and around Rainsough until 2001 when, aged 93, she moved to Oak Lodge, Speaking after Sunday's celebration, Jeffrey, of Southgate Road, Sunnybank, said: "My mother is a fantastic cook and we had lovely food at home while we were growing up and she could put her hand to anything. She even showed me how to plaster, a skill she learned from her father when he was building houses."

He added: "My mother enjoyed sewing and made a lot of clothes for herself and her children, and curtains and bedcovers or anything else that was possible to make at home."