A PENSIONER who was still living independently in her own home when she celebrated her 100th birthday has died at the age of 101.

Elsie Hall, born Elsie Foottit in Thirsk in 1909, cooked for herself, used the bus to get into town and walked three quarters of a mile around the block with aid of her wheeled frame until last Christmas, when she moved from her home in the Hull Road area of York into Fordlands Nursing Home in Fulford. She died suddenly on Tuesday, April 26.

The Press reported in 2009, during her 100th birthday celebrations, how she put her longevity down to doing everything in moderation.

For a special birthday treat, she was whisked off to the North York Moors for a slap-up meal at the Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge before heading over to Whitby, on a trip organised by Heworth travel agents Quartz Travel.

Her friend, Linda Maloney, said yesterday that Elsie, whose husband died more than 40 years ago, left a stepson, Matthew, two step-granddaughters and “many, many friends”.

She said Elsie was not allowed by her father to sit an exam for grammar school, as she was a girl, and she left school at 14, staying at home to assist her mother with younger brothers. At 15, she went to work in a slipper factory in Thirsk.

“After two years, she went into service at Kilvington Hall, near Thirsk, as scullery maid,” Linda said.

“It was a good family, which treated staff well. Sometimes they cycled to York on their day off.”

Elsie worked for several years for Frances Hewitt, sister of Noel Terry of the chocolate family, just off The Mount, before going to a cookery school in London and then becoming cook for a doctor in Harley Street.

She went on a world cruise to Australia in the 1980s, travelling on the Canberra, and learned to swim on board, aged 75.

Linda said: “She actively looked after many elderly neighbours and friends, hospital visiting, washing, shopping and correspondence, until an accident in 1997 which slowed her down a little.”

• Elsie’s funeral will take place at 1.40pm on Monday at York Crematorium.