A beloved great grandmother with a heart of gold is celebrating her 100th birthday today.
Violet Osborne, a familiar face around West End where she has lived for the past 37 years, has received a card from The King to mark her century milestone.
She will celebrate with family and friends and a KFC takeaway.
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Born into a farming community in rural Wiltshire, Violet was the middle one of five Moody girls, all named after flowers.
Moving to Hertfordshire as a toddler, Violet helped her mum, who was a cook in hotel kitchens, carrying out silver service waitressing from the age of 14.
She also often rose early to help her dad carry out deliveries on a horse and cart before walking five miles to and from school across fields and woodland.
Violet met her husband to be Horace while working in a sawmill and lived with his large family in London while working in Rotherhithe Dock, producing ammunition cases for the war effort and driving delivery trucks.
They were bombed out twice and evacuated to Derby, returning to Finchley after the war.
Following a 16-year engagement, Violet and Horace were married on March 31, 1956 and welcomed their daughter Wendy a year later.
After bringing up her family, Violet returned to work, employed at the American Embassy in London assisting the Colonel's family. Violet later worked at a newsagents in Golders Green frequented by Cliff Richard, The Beverley sisters and Cherie Blair.
The Osbornes retired in 1986 and moved to Southampton to be closer to Wendy and her growing family. Horace passed away in 1992.
Violet, loving grandmother to Oliver and Becky and great grandmother to Kara, Ava, Mia and Theo, loves shopping, knitting, word searches, reading and music, especially Jools Holland and Coldplay.
She was shopping for neighbours 20 years her junior into her 90s.
Daughter Wendy Dunford said: "She's a people person and always has been. Children are like magnets to her! Mum loves to stop and chat to people, walks around West End take a lot longer than they should!
"She has a heart of gold and we want her to know just how special and loved she is by us all."
Violet, who has only ever had one mild operation, puts her long life down to a daily glass of milk.
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