HUNDRED-year-old Mary Maclean would have been celebrating her birthday in her own home had she not fallen in April and broken her hip.

Mrs Maclean lived in Woodcroft Avenue, Rawtenstall, and is now at Turfcote Nursing Home, Haslingden, where her daughter Sheila Chalk says: "She enjoys the company of other people and watching everything going on around her."

Mrs Maclean lived in Cumbria before moving down to Rossendale to be nearer her daughter after she and her husband, who died about 20 years ago, retired.

Mrs Chalk said: "She used to run a sweet shop and newsagent and I think carrying on the business on her own during the war made her tough. She always got up at 5am and went to bed at midnight."

Despite the fall, Mrs Maclean can still get about using a frame. Her birthday was on Tuesday but she will be the centre of attention at a party at the home on Saturday organised by her son Kenneth Maclean, who lives in Luton.