Guests travelled from hundreds of miles away to celebrate the 100th birthday of a much-loved and well-travelled lady.

Muriel Down (also known as Olive), of Bere Alston, was treated to a surprise party at the Burrator Inn in Dousland on Wednesday, last week, when family and friends took over a large room with a buffet, balloons, music, home made birthday cake and presents.

Well-wishers came from as far as the North-East of England to see Muriel, which was very apt because later in life she travelled far herself with a close friend Cath Rolls, who was also present at the event. They visited the Kremlin in Moscow, Jersey, Egypt, Holland, the Twin Towers in the US and the Houses of Parliament.

Widow Muriel was born in Cornwall and went to live in Royston near Barnsley near where her husband Sam, a one-time miner and World War Two soldier, came from.

She is a retired long-term school cook in Tavistock and Bere Alston Primary School. She had one daughter Wendy (who died aged 30) and seven brothers, one of whom, Don, 93, attended the party.

The party was organised by Muriel’s granddaughter Joanne Drake, of Bere Alston, who has been her carer for the last few years.

Joanne said: ‘It’s lovely to have so many family and friends here. She’s so well loved by people, even by those who haven’t seen her for ages. There are even two people from the North East who have travelled all the way here to see my grandmother.

‘I’m so grateful to them all for making the effort and coming here, even though she didn’t seem surprised at all when we all cheered her as she came into the pub, She’s been talking to lots of guests, or at least listening and taking in the chat and the atmosphere.’

Joanne said the event had to be staged in a rush at the last minute: ‘My husband George and I are so grateful to the Burrator Inn for having us at such short notice after our previous venue had a fire and cancelled on us with little time to re-organise. They’ve given us everything we asked for and have been very accommodating.’

Muriel was brought to the party by a bus run by the Tavistock Area Support Services (TASS) charity which supports the older people of the town) because Muriel helped organise trips for residents in the area. Joanne said: ‘She was a great organiser and used to help people far younger than her to get on and off buses and make sure it all ran smoothly. It was a nice gesture to give her a lift in a TASS bus.’

Joanne, with her husband George and daughters Jemma and Amelia, gave Muriel two framed collections of photos, memorabilia from her travels and letters from Sam when he was in the WW2 trenches.