A Westbourne woman has died just months after celebrating her 100th birthday.

Blanche Emslie was born in Hertfordshire on January 16, 1912.

After moving to Bournemouth, she spent half a century working as a linen keeper and seamstress in the resort’s hotels, including the Royal Bath.

During the Second World War Blanche, who was a keen gardener, put her sewing talents to good use by making parachutes.

Blanche lived alone until the age of 98 when she moved into Abbeyfield Westbourne House.

While a resident there she was thrilled to meet Royal visitor Sophie, HRH the Countess of Wessex.

After having a pacemaker fitted at the age of 100, Blanche moved into Nightingale nursing home in Bournemouth where she died on June 17. Her funeral service was held at Bournemouth Crematorium on Friday June 22.

Paying tribute to a much-loved aunt, Mrs Ann Traisnel from Jersey said: “She was a lovely lady who had been deaf since she was a child.

“We used to come to Bournemouth once a year to see her and go out for a drive. Because my aunt had lived in Dorset for so long and had been a keen cyclist, she was the perfect navigator.”