A FORMER Christian missionary who has lived in Cirencester almost her entire life turned 100 on Saturday.

Margaret French, of Watermoor Road, was born in the town on January 14, 1917 and went on to serve as a missionary in the Middle East for 21 years, before returning home once again.

"I was born here in the shadow of the church," explained Margaret, who grew up living above a drapers shop on Gosditch Street, owned by her family.

"We used to be frightened of the bells because you couldn't hear anything but the bells," she said, referring to her and her brother, Colin, and sister, Ruth.

"I was the oldest. The bossy one," she said.

Her parents had a milliner working for them at the shop, making hats, who Margaret and her siblings were fond of.

"She told lovely stories, so we used to go while she was making the hats, and listen to the stories."

Margaret attended Cirencester Grammar School, and said "there wasn't anything I didn't like, except sewing. I was awful."

However, she explained that she managed to get out of sewing by pretending she had bad eyesight.

"I was a perfect nuisance," she said. "My teacher, the sewing mistress, said my head was like a turnip top!"

After spending a couple of years as a teacher herself, Margaret went to missionary training college and then into the mission field when she was around 30, starting in Egypt, before spending nearly 20 years in the Middle East.

She returned to Cirencester in 1969.

"First of all, I was in a little upstairs flat opposite the museum," she said, and went on to describe how she rode her bicycle everywhere.

"I had a lovely old bike, but it kept losing the chain. I was going down Cricklade Street and the chain came off so I propped it up against the wall.

"Meanwhile, a lady came walking along and she said, 'Oh, you must come in and wash your hands.' And she brought me into one of those little houses over there," she said pointing across the street.

"And I thought, how lovely, I'd love to have one these. So I put my name down, and thought they'd give me one in 10 years or so, but it came very quickly."

On moving in, she was asked if she wouldn't mind collecting the rent from the other tenants on the street each month.

"So then I got to know everybody and it was lovely," she said, adding: "The best thing about coming here was having a garden. I love growing flowers."

She also used to grow vegetables and make her own marmalade.

A life-long Christian, Margaret has always been a member of the Cirencester Baptist Church, and was once an Elder there, often playing the organ during services.

"I was dedicated there when I was a baby. So I've been going to that church all my life."

Regarding her playing the organ, she joked: "I loved that, but I don't know if other people did."

Also a keen linguist, Margaret can read in both Arabic and French.

"I like language," she said, before going on to show her admiration for the Queen.

"I think the Queen's a wonderful woman. She sets an example. Such faithfulness. Who would do the work she does?"

Margaret's mother died just 10 days off her 102nd birthday, and Margaret puts her long and happy life down to: "Knowing the Lord and asking Him to come into my life. And he did. He's wonderful."

Margaret and her friends and family are celebrating her birthday with a tea party at the new Cirencester Baptist Church on Saturday.