Laura Bagshaw WHEN May McKillop was told she had received a message from the Queen after reaching her 100th birthday she asked her daughters to tell Her Majesty: “I would rather have money instead.

Laura Bagshaw

WHEN May McKillop was told she had received a message from the Queen after reaching her 100th birthday she asked her daughters to tell Her Majesty: “I would rather have money instead.”

And laughter was the order of the day on Friday as May celebrated her centenary with about 20 family members at the Cliff Hotel in Gorleston.

May was born on February 22, 1908, in Glasgow where she went to school. Her first job was selling gloves in a specialist gents' shop. At the age of 17 she married Robert McKillop and the couple had four children, Chris, Edwina, Dorothy and Roy.

When the second world war broke out Robert, an electrician with the local corporation, was exempt from service and May worked on the railways at the ticket desk. She then became a welder in a factory.

Robert died of emphysema when May was just 50 years old.

May worked in a furniture factory until she retired and moved to Gorleston with Dorothy about 20 years ago. May was a keen pianist and avid reader, however her eyesight has declined in recent years.

“She is still mobile and gets up and down the stairs,” said Dorothy. “She really enjoyed herself on Friday night, singing the old Scottish songs and she even had a snowball, that's what she used to drink years ago.”