THERE was a large and rousing toast at the Bull's Head pub in Callington on Tuesday, to mark the 102nd birthday of Britain's oldest landlady, Vera Ghey.

Mrs Ghey is now a resident at Fernleigh House Residential Home at Albaston but her home will always be the pub where she was pulling pints and doing the accounts up until the age of 100.

She took over the Bull's Head with her husband Sid in 1949 and continued as landlady after his death 30 years ago.

This week she was presented with a bouquet of flowers on her birthday from the Portreeve of Callington, Karen Gold.

Good friend Hazel Jones said: 'Vera is a wonderful person and still very active mentally. She still reads the papers and puts her make-up on every morning.

'She was still living at the pub and playing an active part in it until April last year but after a period at Fernleigh Residential Home she liked it so much she wanted to stay.'

A lady of great character, if Mrs Ghey was not behind the bar or chatting to customers, she was playing the piano on the other side of the bar.

In her years as landlady she served up around 50 pints of beer a day for six decades, an estimated total of 150,000 glasses of wine and 2,000 shots of whisky.

She worked seven days a week without a holiday for most of those years.

Business partner Gerry Foster, who is 74, said he had been running the pub with Mrs Ghey for 26 years.

'We will certainly be having a toast because it is a big year for Vera. It's strange without her but she keeps me going and we work hard for her.

'This is still her home and her pub.'