CENTENARIAN Anne German celebrated her 100th April Fool’s Day with family and friends.

Mrs German revealed she has packed a lot into her life from working on the trams to singing opera around the working men's clubs in the area.

Though born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, she moved over the border to Lancashire when she was only a few years old and spent most of her working life in Horwich.

Mrs German joked: “I was born on the first of April, which means I was a fool before I could even start.”

Mother to four children, Elaine, 65, Arthur, 69, Florence, 79, and Tom, who died at the age of 82, she raised the children with her second husband Arthur.

During the war, she worked as a tram operator in Manchester as part of the women’s war effort while Arthur served in the RAF.

Known for her impeccable appearance, she was given the nickname ‘Annie Clean Clogs’ by fellow staff members.

She said: “I always wanted to look good. I used to have big lovely hoop earrings that I’d wear a lot but I don’t put them in so much now.

“I had jet black hair when I was young, it was lovely and curly too.”

Mrs German was interviewed about her famous nickname by actor and radio presenter, Wilfred Pickles, on his BBC Radio show ‘Have a go’ in 1950.

After Arthur’s final station servicing barrage balloons in Manchester, the couple returned to Horwich in the early 1950’s.

Whilst Arthur forged a career in hairdressing in Stockport, Mrs German worked on the professional singing circuit.

During that time, she performed in working men’s clubs and pubs across the northwest singing operatics such as Madam Butterfly.

In 1957, the couple took over the Beehive in Horwich where they stayed for a number of years before moving on to pubs in Bury, Manchester and Cheadle.

Mrs German said: “I liked working in the pubs, I really did. We kept the Beehive then left to go to another nice pub. I liked the Beehive because there were nice people living in the area.”

He daughter Elaine said: "Mum always used to say she put the Beehive on the map. And she id."

Retirement was never for Mrs German, when her husband retired to hair dressing at 85, she decided to go back to the weaving mills — at the age of 75.

She added: “I worked very hard when I was young but I must have done something right to get this far. I had good parents that loved me, and I love my children too.”

More than 60 relatives including grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren joined Mrs German to celebrate her birthday at the Southlands Residential Home in Bolton.

She was also chair of the Manchester Licence Victuallers Association which supports the business interests of those self employed in the licensed trade where she was the first female northern chair.