KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's oldest person celebrated her 113th birthday yesterday in Hastings with cake and four friends of 35 years.
Florence Finch, who was born and bred in London, came to New Zealand in 1969 when her husband died and her daughter and son-in-law moved to Hawkes Bay.
Friend Brian Keogh said she had seen the move as an adventure.
"Florence was born on December 22, 1893, and is a grand old lady," he said.
"She remembers horse-drawn trams and was 21 when World War I started.
"She recalled her father working in an aircraft factory stretching fabric over skinny wooden frames."
He said Mrs Finch was deaf and blind and it had been hard to converse with her in the past year. "But she has her faculties and is easy to look after. She has always had a good appetite but there's nothing of her."
Mr Keogh said her four friends just wanted to be with her to wish her happy birthday. "It was a pretty low-key affair because she doesn't like to cause a fuss.
"She always says, 'There's too much fuss, you've got better things to do, go home'."
Mrs Finch's daughter, Ellen, is in a rest home and was unable to attend yesterday. Her grandson, Tony Gooch, lives in England.
The Guinness Book of Records says the oldest living woman is Julie Winnefred Bertrand of Canada, now 115 years old.
