She's the Aussie great grandmother celebrating her century in Southampton via decades as a missionary in Africa.

Betty Singleton was joined by family, friends and residents as she celebrated her 100th birthday at Walton Court in Archers Road, where she has lived for the past 37 years.

There was delicious cake and a special birthday card from King Charles and Queen Camilla for Betty, a long-standing parishioner at Above Bar Church. 

Daily Echo: Betty Singleton has celebrated her 100th birthday in Southampton

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Betty joined her local church in Australia at the age of seven and soon got her calling to help the poor.

She became a devout Christian and went to Africa as a missionary, where she met her late husband Norman.

They lived in a hut and food was so scarce they even ate rats. The couple's children, Anne and John, were educated in Scotland and Betty and Norman returned to England, where Norman was born, once they retired from their missionary work.

The couple were some of the first tenants of Walton Court where Betty's centenary celebrations took place outside in the spring sunshine with the royal birthday message proudly displayed alongside her birthday cake with 100 candle.

Daily Echo: Betty Singleton has celebrated her 100th birthday in Southampton

She is a much-loved grandmother of seven and great grandmother of 12.

A century ago, regular radio broadcasts were on the rise, and people began tuning in to entertainment and news from around the world. Paris hosted the 1924 Summer Olympics, advancements in aviation were being made on several fronts, automobiles were becoming more prevalent, and prohibition in the U.S. was still in full swing.

Betty was born in May 1924, when George V was on the throne. There were three Prime Ministers that year - Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald and then Stanley Baldwin again. 

John Logie Baird, working in Hastings, sent rudimentary television pictures over a short distance, Margaret Bondfield became the first woman to be appointed a government minister and British submarine HMS L24 sank in a collision in the English Channel, with 43 deaths. 

A pint of beer cost five pence in 1924 - the modern equivalent of about 73p. The average male weekly wage was about £5, roughly £103 nowadays, and a pint of milk cost three pence (44p).