Farm girl Alice sails on to her 107th birthday

And Alice Munton was born.

Alice, who is known to family by her middle name Mary, is now 107 years young and has just celebrated her birthday surrounded by friends and family at the care home where she lives in Lexden.

Alice was born in Chigwell in 1912 and lived with her parents, Edith and Arthur Winter.

She grew up on Limes Farm and was the milk girl around the then village from the age of ten.

After school, she became skilled in shorthand and typing and went on to work at the British and Foreign Machinery Company in London for five years.

She later worked in her father’s convenience shop opposite Chigwell Station until her son, Chris, was born in 1947.

It was while she was working at the shop she met her husband, Maurice, who was working as a railway booking clerk at the time.

The couple married in 1936.

Chris, who lives near Maldon, said: “After they were married dad went to Italy from 1944 to 1946.

“He was a Royal Engineer during the Second World War and worked on the railway there.”

Sadly, after more than 50 years of marriage, Maurice died in 1992 and Alice lived alone in Chigwell until she was 103-years-old.

After a stay in hospital she moved to the Oaks care home in Lexden.

Chris said: “She did a lot of work on the farm and went back to work there after I was born.

“It involved digging vegetables and it was a pretty active life.”

Alice has lived through more than 20 changes of prime minister and decades of technological change but is still content and well.

Chris said she puts her long life down to her healthy lifestyle having worked on farms.

Now her activities are a little more sedate.

Chris said: “She also does a lot of knitting.

“As far as I know she is not on any medication at all and although she is extremely deaf, she is content.”