Bingo-playing great grandmother celebrates her 100th birthday and says Hartlepool has 'best bingo hall in the country'

Much-loved Rose plays at the marina bingo hall almost every day and was joined by family and friends as she marked the milestone occasion.

She has been a regular at the Mecca since she moved to Hartlepool with her family from Newport in Wales 15 years ago.

Rose, who has one daughter, four grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren, said: “It’s like home from home. I’ve made loads of friends up here.

“I still enjoy my bingo. I’ve always said this is the best bingo hall in the country.

“They’re a marvellous crew. They are as good as gold to all the old people not only me.”

Her biggest win was £350 around a year ago.

Rose can be found at the same spot on every visit as she knows where all the numbers fixed to the table are.

She was pleased to receive a card from Her Majesty The Queen.

But Rose was presented with the best present she could wish for on her birthday by Mecca’s management – a special gold card guaranteeing free play for the rest of her life.

Operations manager Neil Lamb said: “Rose is a very valued customer.

“She comes pretty much every day and is really well liked by the customers and staff who all know her by name and look after her.”

Rose was joined for a game on her special day by her daughter Nita Symons, her granddaughter, and great-grandchildren Sammi, Harris 27, and Joe Harris, 23.

She said of reaching 100: “It feels the same as when I was 20!”

Back in Wales during the Second World War, when Rose was in her 20s, she worked in a factory that made coffins.

After the war, she kept hungry steelworkers at British Steel in Newport well fed where she worked as a cook for many years.

Upon retirement she helped to look after her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Rose’s husband Ivor Samuels passed away in 1996.