A former reporter for The Royal Gazette celebrated her century with a party at brunch at the Fairmont Southampton on Sunday.

Renée Barton travelled by limousine from her home at Hungry Bay in Paget to the hotel for the party in the Jasmine Room.

Her five grandsons, four great-granddaughters and one great-grandson are scattered around the world, but there was still a party of about 30 to mark the milestone.

Ms Barton covered current events for The Royal Gazette in the early 1950s and was a good friend of the late journalist, author and historian Ira Phillip, who was at the Bermuda Recorder.

She met her husband, the late Ron Barton, during her three years in the Women’s Royal Naval Service in Britain during the Second World War.

Mr Barton’s service in the Royal Navy almost ended in tragedy in December 1941, when he was 21, after his ship, HMS Prince of Wales, was sunk by the Japanese air force in the South China Sea, with the loss of 347 crew.

The Bartons came to Bermuda in 1952 when the navy stationed Mr Barton at Admiralty House, in Pembroke, where he served as Chief Petty Officer Writer, a naval administrator.

Ms Barton’s career at The Royal Gazette ended in 1955 when the family were transferred back to Britain.

When her husband retired from the navy in 1960, they returned to Bermuda.

The couple’s children, Paul and Patricia, said their parents shared a talent for bookkeeping

Ms Barton was a clerk at the Agricultural Station, which became the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, from November 1960 until her retirement in 1981.

Her husband was the secretary for the Bermuda War Veterans Association.

Ms Barton served in the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire charity, first as treasurer and then, from 1977 to 1979, as president of the Bermuda chapter.

She was also a commissioner for the Bermuda Girl Guides.