A SOUTH Lakeland woman who was born just three weeks after the reign of Queen Victoria ended has died at the age of 104.

Hettie (Nan) Bate was born on February 10, 1901 in Warrington, where she spent her childhood. She left school at the age of 14 and began her working life as a secretary at a Warrington company, where she put her training as a shorthand typist to good use.

She met her late husband Ted, who worked on the Manchester Canal, in 1923 and they raised a family of two boys, Ted and Ken. The couple moved to Windermere in 1959 to be close to her family, which by then included several grandchildren, and they spent a happy retirement pursuing their great love of ballroom and old time dancing.

At the age of 72 she enjoyed sledging on the Glebe with her grandchildren. She spent her last years at St Gregory's House care home, at Preston Patrick, where her family say she was cared for with great kindness until she died in her sleep on October 17.