A "fiercely independent’ woman who volunteered as an air raid warden in the Second World War has celebrated her 100th birthday.

Patrisia Robinson marked the milestone on August 27, with a party surrounded by friends and family thrown by her two sons.

Patrisia was born three years after the end of the First World War and survived the privations of the Great Depression.

During the Second World War, after being directed to the Ministry of Food, headed by Lord Woolton in London, she was billeted in a house requisitioned for junior Civil Servants in Hyde Park Gate.

In her spare time, she volunteered as an air raid warden in the Paddington area, and occasionally helped out at a Junior Officer’s Club nearby.

Patrisia came to Winchester in 1974 when her husband, Michael., was posted to the Inland Revenue Valuation Office in the city.

After he retired and died aged 70 in 1992, she joined the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship and served as Social Secretary until this branch closed 17 years later.

She continued as an active member of the Winchester Horticultural Society and Littleton U3A, and joined the mahjong group, and still plays today, despite being severely sight impaired and registered disabled.

In 2020 Patrisia, of St Matthews Road, Weeke, was admitted to hospital with Covid but has now returned home.

Described as “fiercely independent” Patrisia, who worships at St Matthews and St Pauls, still lives in her own home, supported by her family and friends.

Her birthday party, a gift from her two sons, Christopher and Iain, was their way of thanking them all.