A centenarian from Letchworth has celebrated her 100th birthday, surrounded by family, friends, carers and housing association staff.

Hilda Howard had a very busy day on August 17 – starting with a card from the Queen, and a bouquet presented by Howard Cottage Housing Association chief executive John Welch.

Throughout the day there was a constant stream of visitors to Hilda’s flat at Tabor Court, including many of her fellow residents, a niece and nephew who came from Kent, Howard Cottage staff and her Goldsborough carers.

Hilda, who originally came from Lancashire, used to love travelling around the country with her late husband and had a very busy social life, including lots of dancing.

She has always had a sense of fun – when her niece was a child, Hilda was definitely the “favourite aunt” because she would let them climb trees and get into all kinds of scrapes.

As one of the original Tabor Court residents, Hilda met the Queen when she opened the scheme on July 30, 1993.

Despite health problems in recent years, Hilda retains a great sense of humour. When testing out the magnifying glass bought for her 100th birthday by the Howard Cottage team, she joked: “Maybe it’ll work when the batteries are in?”

She’s strong-minded too. Hilda was the first resident to sign up for Tabor Court’s twice-monthly fantasy football competition – but she would only do so on condition that her team was Arsenal.