PATRICIA Mary Oldridge has the middle name Mary for a reason - she was the first girl to be born in the country on the silver jubilee of Queen Mary in 1935.

Today Mrs Oldridge, aged 76, lives in Bexleyheath’s Iverhurst Close, in the borough she has lived all her life.

On the day when Queen Mary and King George V celebrated 25-years together she was pictured in the Daily Mirror with her proud mother, having been born minutes after midnight at the now closed Hainault Maternity Hospital in Erith.

The retired jewellery store worker said: “The Daily Mirror gave me a treasure cot as a prize and this was used when my brother was born as well.

“All I remember is the little plaque on the side saying that it had been presented by the Mirror.

“We got bombed out during the war though and lost everything, including the cot, and the cuttings are all mostly in shreds today.”

Described in the newspaper as ‘Erith’s baby,’ Mrs Oldridge was presented with a silver cup by Erith Urban District Council, which she still proudly displays in her lounge today.

She says it was not until she reached her teenage years that she became aware of the unusual accolade she possessed.

With the Queen celebrating her Diamond Jubilee in June, Mrs Oldridge looks back on the three royal jubilees she has lived through.

She said: “My best memories are of the 1977 silver jubilee.

“I was working in Welling at the time and I remember they got up on the top of a block of flats, I think it was John Newton Court.

“They had a huge banner that said ‘God Save the Queen’ and there were parties as well.”

Mrs Oldridge, who is celebrating her 55th year with husband John this year, says she is planning a family meal for this year’s Diamond Jubilee.

She personally wrote to the Queen earlier this year, enclosing a copy of the newspaper cutting, and was delighted to receive a letter back from her last month.