A SEAMSTRESS to the stars and self-dubbed free spirit says she feels “very lucky” after celebrating a milestone birthday.

Beryl McBride, of Clacton, turned 100-years-old and marked the occasion with a glass of bubbly and a card from the Queen.

The snooker and word search fanatic was also taken aback by a compilation video put together by her loving family.

The heart-warming clip was comprised of birthday wishes from relatives and friends as well as famous faces such as snooker star Ken Doherty, darts player Bobby George, and Pointless’ Alexander Armstrong.

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

Sprightly Beryl, who prides herself on her independence and enjoys walks, said: “It was really great and I felt overwhelmed.

“I am going to look back and think to myself ‘I am very lucky’, but I do not feel 100.

“I can do what I want, and I do not have to be told what to do, I am a free spirit.

“I have done everything I wanted to, had fun and enjoyed life.”

Beryl, whose parents were Oliver Edmunds and Ann Fulcher, was born in north London on March 24.

She grew up with two brothers, and a twin brother with whom she had a unique connection, and attended Stanford Hill Primary School and Vale Road School.

She played piano but developed a passion for needlework and embroidery after being taught by her grandmother, an accomplished seamstress.

She went on to work in a fabric factory where she helped make under garments for Princess Marina, Prime Minister David Lloyd George and singer Paul Robeson.

During the Second World War Beryl, then aged 20, worked as a radar operator in Scotland for the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

Here she met husband Bill McBride, after “being cheeky” to a military officer saw her having to sign in guards as punishment.

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

The couple married on her birthday in 1945 at St Mary’s Church, Cheshunt, and had two daughters, Anna and Jean.

“My Bill would get on with the worms in the ground,” said Beryl. “But if any of the other men in the camp started trying to talk to me it was fisticuffs.

“A lot of people liked him. I have a photo of him dressed up as a woman and he had the most lovely, shaped legs.”

Beryl, who has travelled to Australia and Canada, worked at John Lewis’ Soft Furnishing Workroom for 16 years and moved to Clacton in the 1980s.

She said: “The secret is to be good to everybody, laugh, be truthful, and be chatty.”

Beryl has three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.