SHE celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by some of her oldest friends, one of whom she has known since 1935.

Stella Robinson was born in Bramshaw in the New Forest and used to run the village shop with her husband Robbie, who died in 1985.

Stella originally went into domestic service, working for the Crosthwaite-Eyre family in London before transferring to Ashurst in 1930. It was there she met Gladys Logan, who became her best friend and was among the guests at the centenary celebrations at the New Forest Nursing Home in Fritham.

During the war Stella worked at a munitions factory in the Rushington area of Totton.

Robbie was working on the railways when he met his future wife and the couple were married at St Peter’s Church, Bramshaw, in 1946.

In the 1950s Stella took over the village shop and post office from her mother, Eva Hatch, whose own mother had previously been in charge.

Stella’s niece, Margaret Spratt, said: “She ran a thriving business with a spotlessly clean shop and three uniformed girls. Her home-cooked jam was the talk of the neighbourhood.”

After retiring in 1975 Stella moved into a new bungalow next door and nursed her husband, who had suffered a stroke, until his death.