A GREAT-grandmother believed to be Poole's oldest resident has just turned 109.

Louisa Tyrrell, who was born in 1898 in the reign of Queen Victoria, celebrated her birthday on Sunday at Wessex Lodge Retirement Home, in Munster Road, Parkstone.

Assistant manager Linda Slater said: "We're gave her a big birthday cake. She loves anything sweet so it's a nice treat for her."

Louisa, the daughter of an East End painter and decorator, left school at 12, and was 16 when the First World War started. Then she worked in a munitions factory, and during World War Two she was commended for four years service in the American Red Cross.

The mother of five, who has four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, spent 40 years managing a block of flats in Wooton Gardens, off Old Christchurch Road, until retiring aged 75.

She combined this with work as an usher at Bournemouth's Palace Court Theatre, where her evening shifts brought her into contact with film stars including Vivien Leigh, Sheila Hancock and the young Laurence Olivier.

A theatre lover all her life, she would often return to see shows in London, where she lived until 1932 before moving to Poole with her later partner Bill Corbet.

Her son, John Tyrrell, 76, said: "She's had a good life and done all sorts of things. It's something to say you were born in the reign of Queen Victoria. She's quite remarkable."