Shakers supporter Annie Maden was “over the moon” when she was presented with a football shirt signed by the whole team to wish her a happy 100th birthday.

And the club's head of football Chris Brass was not the only notable visitor.

The Mayor of Bury, Councillor Mrs Stella Smith and her consort, husband John, also popped in to Hewlett Court residential home in Holcombe Brook to congratulate her, as did former government minister, Sir David Trippier, who is head of the region’s 3,500 Masons, with his wife Lady Ruth.

Annie has been a Bury supporter since she married her husband Eddie in 1938. She was overjoyed when the team won promotion at the end of last season but when Chris Brass called in with the special present, she was almost lost for words.

She did manage to say that she still follows the club’s fortunes every game though she cannot get down to Gigg Lane these days.

Annie worked in the cotton industry as a bobbin winder at Barlow’s Mill, in Chapelfield, Radcliffe until her marriage. Husband Eddie, a lifelong Bury supporter, was a shuttle maker at the family firm of Maden and Hardman in Radcliffe. One of their neighbours in Radcliffe was Shakers’ skipper, David Jones, who played wing half just after the war. Their families became great friends.

The couple moved from Radcliffe after 40 years to Greenmount and, sadly, Annie was left a widow in October 1994 and moved to Hewlett Court in Newcombe Road in 2007.

The home’s Director of Operations, Mrs Julie Ward, said Annie had a tremendous day and a fabulous party, joined by her sons Alan and David and her four grandchildren - Sophie, Holly, Benjamin and William - and in the company of 37 other residents of the home.

Annie is a former President of Radcliffe Inner Wheel and continued her association after moving to Greenmount, where she became a regular attender and active member of Greenmount United Reformed Church. She is now the oldest member. Annie was also a member of the local Women’s Institute.

Annie, whose father was a miner at Ladyshore Colliery in Little Lever, survives all her four elder sisters, Margaret, Florence, Nellie and Lena, with Margaret and Nellie each reaching the age of 99.

* Hewlett Court in Newcombe Road was opened in 1979 by the East Lancashire Masonic Charity, which has cared for Freemasons’ and their dependants for more than a century. In the past few years, the home has opened its doors to people without Masonic connections and this was the case with Annie. Now, only two thirds of the residents have Masonic links.