THE head of a five-generation family celebrated her 100th birthday at Thornton Hill Nursing Home on Monday.

Elsie Foster's family includes eight grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, some of them in Australia.

Several family members, including sons Clive and Donald, attended a celebration at the Thornton-in-Craven home on Sunday. A third son, Ralph, emigrated to Australia.

A smaller party was held at the home on Monday, including a visit by the chairman of Craven District Council, Coun Ken Hart, and his wife Kathleen.

Born in Earby, Mrs Foster has lived in West Craven virtually all her 100 years. As a child she lived briefly in Sutton, but the family moved back to Earby where her father, Tom Parker, became the local saddler.

After leaving school she went to work in the drapery department at Earby's Co-operative store. She met her future husband, Freeman Foster, at a local dance and the couple were married at Thornton-in-Craven Church in March 1926.

He was a farmer and milkman at Batty House Farm, between Earby and Thornton, and in later years Mrs Foster became well-known in Earby through helping her husband with the milk round. From her home at Thornton Hill, she can still look out on Batty House Farm, in the valley below.

For the past 16 years, Mrs Foster lived at Jagoe House retirement home, in Earby, moving to Thornton Hill earlier this year when ever-changing regulations forced the Earby home to close. Some of the other residents from Jagoe House also moved to Thornton Hill and helped Mrs Foster celebrate with a sip of champagne.