A CENTENARIAN received the perfect present as se celebrated her milestone birthday.

Phyllis Baynham was given the news that she had become a great-grandmother for the first time.

Phyllis, who lives in The Mews, independent living accommodation at Sutton Manor, was enjoying her birthday party when she heard that her granddaughter Victoria was now mum to a baby girl named Autumn.

The happy news meant the 100th birthday party, which was attended by her family, friends and fellow residents became a double celebration.

She said: “Funnily enough, when they told us they were having a baby, her husband said to me that it was around my birthday and that he’d told her to hold on so the baby could be born on my hundredth birthday. And she jolly well did!”

Phyllis was born in Malvern, Worcestershire, and during the war served in the Army as a driver in the Mechanised Transport Corps. Her job was to keep Britain’s war effort moving by delivering fuel to petrol stations, vehicle depots and aerodromes around the country.

She was a keen motorist all her life, and only stopped driving at of 95. Her civilian driving record was accident-free, but during her serving days she remembers one hair-raising incident when she crashed a lorry.

“It was the day after a raid in Birmingham and they badly needed petrol,” she said recalling the event.

“Normally we didn’t go into Birmingham - they left that to the men because they needed larger lorries than we drove. But this time we had to go. I was following a friend and we were going down quite a steep slope, and there was quite a young girl cycling up.

“I could see she was going to fall off because she was wobbling, and I was looking at her and the girl in front of me braked. I saw that too late! I tried to avoid her, but I went straight across the road, up a bank and turned over.

“I didn’t lose any petrol, which I was congratulated about. I wasn’t hurt - I climbed out of the window. The next thing I knew I was taken home and after lunch they said right, you’re going to Stratford! So, I got in and went off to Stratford-upon-Avon and that was it. After that until I gave up my driving licence at 95, I never had another accident while driving.”

Following the war, Phyllis lived around the country with husband Peter de Mouchet, who passed away in 2003. She has two children, Simon and Caroline, 7 grandchildren and now a great-granddaughter.