Centenarian Margaret Paxton missed out on her card from the Queen on the day of her 100th birthday.

But her face lit up with smiles when it was delivered to her the next day - thanks to the Oxford Mail.

The sprightly resident of the Lady Nuffield nursing home, in Banbury Road, Oxford, was featured in our paper on her big day last Thursday.

The customary congratulation card from Her Majesty had been sent, but ended up at the home of Chris Chesterman, who lives in Rising- hurst.

He didn't open it because he said it was "official looking", and was even more amazed when the next morning another envelope, again clearly marked for Mrs Margaret Paxton, was delivered.

"This rang alarm bells," said Mr Chesterman. "Then I remembered reading a report in the Oxford Mail about a lady who turned 100.

"So I got the paper out of the recycling bin and found it was Mrs Paxton. I was holding her card from the Queen."

He remembered the article because it was written by Mail reporter and triathlete Emma-Kate Lidbury. Mr Chesterman, 37, always looks out for her articles because for the past year he has been her sports masseur.

He telephoned the nursing home to confirm Mrs Paxton lived there and on Friday night went along to deliver the envelopes to her.

"She was very chuffed about it and had a lovely sense of humour about the whole thing," he said.

The reason why the Queen's message arrived as Mr Chesterman's home is probably due to the fact that Mrs Paxton used to live in a house with the same number and road name as him, but in a different part of the county.

Nursing home manager Kate Brown said: "She really enjoyed the big day, a lot of wining and dining here and with her family, even though she didn't have the card on time.

"Her family must have told Buckingham Palace because another card from the Queen came here for her on Saturday morning. She's lapping it up like Madonna,"

Mrs Paxton, who said she had only been a resident at the home for less than a month, could not thank Mr Chesterman enough for making sure she got her card.

She said: "I thought it may have got lost in the post, but I'm too old to get disappointed about things like that. My nieces had contacted someone when it didn't arrive and someone told them I would definitely get it.

"Then Mr Chesterman contacted the home and he brought it up here on Friday night. It was lovely of him to do that - he's been wonderful really."