Evelyn enjoys her 100th birthday bash

She was also visited by Bexhill's town mayor Councillor Bridget George who presented her with a certificate and personal best wishes.

Evelyn was joined by almost 30 guests who visited to help her mark this amazing milestone birthday.

Home manager Mary Harris commented: "She is gorgeous...she is aways cheerful. She sings all day, and she likes to dance. When we told her she was having a party she was thrilled. She is always happy, never miserable, and like to join in everything."

Evelyn - whose actual name is Rose - was born into the enormous Jones family based around south west London. She was the youngest of ten - seven of them brothers, all of whom made it safely through the First or Second World War when fighting for their country.

When she left school she followed on from her tailor father by working in soft furnishing and upholstery. She worked for Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge for many years but then the city girl became a country girl in 1960, when she married a farmer she had known for many years - he was Albert Derby Cornish of Pullen Farm in Frittenden, Kent.

Albert died in 1973 and Evelyn lived in the bungalow they had built in Beckley, where she was a keen darts player in the local pub and kept healthy by enjoying keep-fit classes.

Her niece Joyce Seccombe said: "She is a lovely, lovely lady."