A former nurse and teacher who grew up in Burton has attributed her long and happy life to "good family genes" she she turned 100.
Connie Payne, who celebrated her 100th birthday on August 16, grew up in Grange Street, Burton and went by the name of Connie Neale.
The youngest of six, Connie won a scholarship to Burton Girls High School before becoming a student nurse at the Princess Alice Hospital in Eastbourne. It was there that she met her future husband Nigel, when she and some of her fellow student nurses accidentally set fire to his bed.
Connie’s daughter Sheila, said: "He didn't mind as he recovered from his broken leg to become my dad!"
After a spell nursing children in Sheffield, Connie and Nigel moved to Burton as her husband's work took him to Rolls-Royce in Derby.
When her children Mike and Sheila came along, Connie took a rest from nursing and embraced a career change, becoming a teacher, firstly at Waterside and then Uxbridge Street schools before she retired in the 1960s and "downsized" from the family home in Repton to Newton Road.
Connie, who is also grandmother to two and great grandmother to five, received a birthday card from the Queen and celebrated the special milestone at Branston Golf and Country Club with her family.
Now living happily at Chestnut Grange in Anglesey Road, Burton, the "very active and involved" Connie claims that her long life is due to the family genes.
Son Mike said: "Her older sister lived to 108 and all the others well into their nineties so she is expecting to be around for a while yet.
"Branston Club saw us celebrate her 80th birthday party so it was a natural choice for a very successful 100th birthday party."
