GREAT-GRANDMA Nellie Whitehead moved a step closer to her dream to toast the millennium yesterday when she celebrated her 99th birthday in style.

Nellie, a lifelong Blackburn Rovers fan and season-ticket holder, is thought to be one of the club's oldest fans. She spent the day with her three children Norman, Helen and Peter, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren, at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Clayton-le-Moors. Disabled and bravely fighting leukaemia, Nellie's house was burgled earlier this year while she was on holiday in Gran Canaria.

But she was putting her troubles behind her yesterday and looking forward to this New Year and next as she enjoyed the slap-up lunch.

Daughter Helen, of Green Lane, Blackburn, said: "I do hope she will see the millennium because it is something she truly wants to do and there won't be many people who have seen a turn of the century twice. The burglary really knocked her back but she's doing well again now and we are all very proud of her. She has been going to see Blackburn Rovers but has stopped temporarily because it is so cold."

Nellie, who lives close to the ground in Ewood, was married to the late Lawrence Whitehead and worked as a weaver in her younger days.

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