The last surviving founder member of a thriving social group for older people is celebrating her 100th birthday.

Lucy Long was marking the milestone with a bash at Crossflatts Older People's Welfare - a group she helped set up in 1956.

And as part of the festivities, 90-year-old president Grace Winterbottom presented Mrs Long with a bouquet of flowers, a birthday cake and a bottle of whisky.

"I've been joking to Lucy that we've ordered a horse to take her down to see the Queen," said Mrs Winterbottom.

Mrs Long, who grew up in Idle, moved to Crossflatts in 1947, and set up the club with a small group of other residents.

It grew from a hut behind the present St Aidan's church to meetings at people's houses. It now boasts a membership of more than 100 and has its own centre at the flats for elderly people behind Canal Road.

The aim was to provide older people, especially those who lived alone, with a social life and support. "We've done all sorts and I've had such a happy time," said great-grandmother Mrs Long, who used to serve on the committee.

A former hairdresser and mother-of-two, Mrs Long ran her own salon called Lucy's, in Low Moor, Bradford. Husband and childhood sweetheart Arthur Long, a former engineer at Bingley's Anderton Springs, died in 1973.

Member Freda Escritt, whose late husband and former councillor John Escritt was chairman until 1981, said the group used to provide holidays for single women.

The group celebrated its 25th anniversary with a party at the St Ives mansion, in Harden, near Bingley. The club holds a coffee morning on Mondays, from 10am to noon, and entertainment on Wednesdays from 2.15pm.