SHE is the first centenarian at Chandler's Ford's Brookdale House residential care home, so staff pulled out all the stops to give Ella Hulme a great tea party to celebrate her 100th birthday.

Ella has lived most of her life in the Shirley area of Southampton. One of her earliest childhood memories is of Titanic leaving port.

One of her relatives was a cabinet-maker and produced a magnificent dresser for one of the engineers on the ill-fated liner.

However, the dresser was not completed in time and the ship left without it.

The intricately constructed dresser, which featured a variety of hidden compartments for charts and maps, was eventually sold in a Sotheby's auction.

Ella received a telegram from The Queen, and among the guests at her birthday party were Eastleigh mayor Councillor June Hughes and Southampton's first citizen, Councillor Dennis Harryman.