A DEVOUT Catholic and talented singer who was sent to Belgium to train as a nun is toasting a special date today - her 106th birthday.

Teetotaller Catherine Bogg - thought to be the oldest person in Pershore - will celebrate the big day with family and friends at Heathlands Residential Care Home, on Station Road - where she now lives.

And the great-grandmother - known as Kitt - who has lived through three centuries, was modest about reaching such a ripe old age.

"It might be an achievement but it's been hard work," she said.

"It makes no difference to nobody though, does it - who will notice?"

But Fiona Mash, the home's care services manager, said all of the other care home residents were excited for her.

"We're just really excited about it as it's an amazing milestone for her and very exciting for Pershore," she said.

"She's a very popular resident here and very well thought of, with a fantastic sense of humour."

Mrs Bogg was born in Scarborough in 1898 - one of eight children - and her father Thomas worked in the coal mines while her mother Catherine stayed at home to care for her children.

The mother-of-one spent her childhood in the coastal town and went to a convent school there before being sent to Brussels to develop her skills as a nun - where she also sang in choirs because of her exceptional singing voice.

During the First World War the keen knitter and gardener returned to Scarborough and made uniforms for soldiers, before marrying her husband Jack in the 1920s in St Peter's Church in the town - which her father helped build.

"I was a Catholic and he was a Protestant, but it made no difference because he came to me - without persuasion!" she said

Just before the Second World War the couple moved to Birmingham with Mr Bogg's job at British Small Arms in the city and - during the war - Mrs Bogg was an inspector in the ammunition factories.

The couple then moved to Pershore about 40 years ago where her husband died about 20 years later.

Mrs Bogg moved to The Paddock Rest Home in the town in summer 2002, before transferring to Heathlands last summer.

Asked the secret of long life, she replied "keeping yourself busy - I've always had plenty to do."