A VETERAN poppy seller who made parachutes during the war celebrated her 100th birthday last week.

Muriel Constable has lived and worked in Halstead for almost her entire life.

She celebrated being “100 years young” on January 20.

Happy and healthy, Muriel marked her birthday at Halstead Hall care home surrounded by friends and family.

Muriel was born in 1920 and worked at the old Courtauld weaving factory for 44 years, even taking part in the war effort, making silk parachutes for soldiers and pilots.

She started working at the factory at the age of just 14 in 1934 and was regularly under the threat of German bombers during the Second World War.

Muriel remembers hearing the wail of the air raid sirens, when workers at the factory were forced to drop their tools, grab a gas mask and run to their allocated air raid shelter, but the plucky pensioner says she was never scared.

She is perhaps best known around the Halstead area for being a Poppy Appeal collector for more than 50 years.

Muriel still managed to continue collecting after suffering her first stroke.

She said: “I used to go door to door collecting donations.

“I had a stroke but we still went out.

“They used to push me down the street in a wheelchair along with all my gear.

“It was a cause I believed in and I really enjoyed doing it.”

Both Muriel’s father and brother served in the armed forces.

She has since been forced to give up collecting for the Poppy Appeal, but only stopped when she was in her mid-90s.

Muriel was delighted to receive the traditional birthday card from the Queen to mark her centenary.

When asked how she’d managed to reach such a great age, she simply said: “Hard work.”