Kathleen is 100

"He is a very nice looking boy," she commented.

"I did like him."

A lifelong Conservative voter, Kathleen chatted happily with Greg who later said: "100 is a wonderful age and I am glad to say more and more Bexhill residents are reaching this milestone. I wish Miss Bunney many happy returns of the day."

Kathleen, who lives at St Nectan's in Cantelupe Road, also enjoyed a lunch with close family members, Sarah and Tony, to mark her special day on Thursday (September 27).

She was born in South Marlborough, in Hampshire, and was one of five children.

"My father was a farmer, but in actual fact he never did much work - he was rather a lazy man. My mother was a farmer too, her family had hop fields in Farnham, in Surrey."

She remembers moving around during the war, working as a shorthand secretary and in accounts, and recalls in particular the bombing raids around London which hit the East End.

Much of her life was spent working for Lady Wolseley who owned the Ladies Park Club at 32 Knightsbridge in London; Kathleen was a receptionist who helped organise life for the privileged guests staying there who had come up to do the season. She lived in, and sometimes invited her young nieces along because Lady Wolseley liked to see them, and occasionally took them for tea at Harrods.

Kathleen said: "I often wonder if I could have done better...I have never done anything outstanding, just a receptionist really."

She says her life at St Nectan's is "very comfortable".

"I have got it very free and easy here. The girls here are most amusing - we have a laugh together."

St Nectan's deputy manager Maureen Hayes said: "Every morning when Kathleen comes down she says to me - I am still alive! Well, only just...

"Kathleen has got a sense of humour - she is lovely. We have three 100 year olds here at the moment; apart from Kathleen, there is Marjorie Neville and Phil Nimmo - isn't that good? It is an achievement for us."