Wiltshire's oldest woman Anne Baker celebrates 110th birthday

Anne Baker MBE, of Harnham Road, marked the special day on Tuesday, May 14, surrounded by flowers, family and cards - including one from His Majesty King Charles and Queen Camilla.

The supercentenarian also celebrated the impressive milestone with a party at the Rose and Crown on Sunday, May 12, when approximately 70 relatives and friends gathered for an afternoon of punting.

Mrs Baker was wheeled down to the Harnham hotel and "sat like a Queen" as her sons raised a glass and gave a celebratory speech.

Born in London before the First World War began, Mrs Baker moved to the Salisbury area in 1960 and has lived there ever since.

Anne Baker is the oldest woman in Wiltshire. (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

Son David Baker, 85, acts as his mother's carer and said she was "intensely loving" in her youth and "a huge example to us all".

"We had such a happy childhood with my mother and father," he added.

She married late husband Valentine E Baker in 1938 and he worked in Brown Street as the Conservative agent for Wessex but died in 1980.

They had five children - Peter, Rose, Chris and Julian - and Mrs Baker now has 16 grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren.

A keen fundraiser, Mrs Baker was awarded an MBE at the age of 106 for her work with the NSPCC.

She has been raising money for the charity for more than 60 years through garden fetes and is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the oldest person to be honoured with the MBE.

Alongside her charity work, Mrs Baker was a keen writer who extensively researched and wrote four books about her family's history as well as a children's novel.

Four of Anne Baker's published books. (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

As a testament to her "extreme" bravery, Mrs Baker refused to rely on a wheelchair until she turned 100 years old and has stayed in her Harnham home for 50 years.

Mrs Baker would fly to America to visit her son Chris through her 90s and celebrated her 90th birthday on a flight back from the States.

A memory that has stayed with Mrs Baker dates back to when she was staying with her grandfather aged just four years old.

She recalled how the butler came in holding a large Union Jack flag and said "the war is over sir, should I hang this on the guard post?"

Mrs Baker also remembers playing hide and seek with Lawrence of Arabia while his book 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' was reviewed.

Plenty more family stories were shared on her birthday which painted Mrs Baker as a strong, humble woman who has lived an eventful life.