Kicking up her heels! - 'IT'S A JOY TO BE 100'

The straight-shooter in pink jokes she might have her birthday all over again for the gifts

-  Fleur Guthrie

Her helium balloons are beginning to deflate and she may not be up to dancing in heels any more, but Joy Beattie Major is keen to keep her 100th birthday celebrations going.

When the Weekly team arrives at Joy's rest home on Auckland's North Shore, she is sitting in her cosy pink-themed bedroom and excitedly tells us about all the messages she's received - including a birthday card from King Charles - but questions a lack of presents.

"I got cupcakes and a bouquet of flowers, but I didn't get many presents... so I think I better have my birthday again! No, just kidding, you don't need presents when you're 100 because you've had everything three times over." Joy is a straight-shooter with a needle-sharp wit. She checks her pink headscarf is in place and her fuchsia nail polish isn't chipped - "because I'm vain, you know" - and shares with us a century of vivid memories, from being a single mother in the 1950s to her great love of dance.

Born in Ponsonby on March 28, 1923, Joy began tap and ballroom dancing as a young girl.

Alongside her dance partner Neil Arrow, Joy performed the quickstep and waltz at many venues, including balls at the Peter Pan Cabaret.

In 1939, at the start of World War II, the young dancer joined the Kathleen Boyle Concert Party, before going on to form her own concert party, which included her older brother Des.

Joy met her future husband, US Army Officer Warren Major, when she was 20 years old.