BIRTHDAY celebrations brought together a 100-year-old woman with a long-eared 12 year old named William Bond.

Ethel Rainer Milligan, known as Rainer, turned 100 at The Hyde Residential Home in Bridport.

To wish her happy birthday, her children arranged a visit from a resident of the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary – a donkey named William Bond.

Her son Simon Brody said: “My mum coped incredibly well.

“In one of the photos, she’s smiling at the donkey. She loves donkeys.”

Mrs Milligan was born in Lambeth in 1916.

Her father, Cecil Foreshew was a director at Rowntree Chocolate, involved with a factory in London.

Mr Brody said: “He retired quite young and took up golfing in a big way. He played every golf course in the UK, including West Bay.

“My mum was very beautiful when she was young. She used to model rings in her early years because she had beautiful hands.

“She married my father who was a doctor but he died tragically young of cancer in 1949.

“My brother Mark, my mother and I were just the three of us for quite a few years.

Bridport and Lyme Regis News:

CONGRATULATIONS: Rainer Milligan and her card from The Queen

“Eventually we found ourselves living in London, where the mother of two rented out a room to young BBC engineer Raymond Milligan.

“Then, as will happen, they fell in love and married. The whole family moved to Bridport when I was nine, in 1953. Sadly, my stepfather died just six weeks ago. They had been married for 59 years.

“We put my mother’s longevity down to living in a draughty house with no central heating and a solid fuel Aga. And peace and quiet.

“My mother has a lot of friends. She’s a great reader and liked gardening.

“She loved Agatha Christie – liked a good murder and my stepfather and she used to love going out for a pint.”

Mrs Milligan is a great grandmother to three – Allister, Jessica and Joshua.