Clean living and plenty of fresh air and vegetables have helped Dorothy Chantler clock up 100 years.

The centenarian celebrated her birthday in style with dozens of cards, a party and a good old trip down memory lane.

Dorothy was born on October 29, 1916, and was married to Cyril Chantler for 51 happy years.

Their son, Peter, has five step-daughters with wife Jeanette, so Dorothy is a step-grandmother of five and they all know her as nanny Dolly.

Speaking from her home in Spring Cross, New Ash Green, she said: “I’ve never drunk alcohol or smoked and I’ve always lived in the country, eating lots of fresh vegetables. It’s done me a lot of good.

“I was quite active. I used to play tennis before I got married and won lots of cups. After, I would take our springer spaniel, Jock, out for walks. I used to like to get out in the garden when I was a bit stronger.”

As a young family they had a caravan in Leysdown on Sheppey and would holiday there.

She added: “I’ve got nothing to worry about now. I’ve done everything I wanted to do.

“The time flies by. It really does.

“A lot of people are put into homes but it was a pleasure having Peter, and I’m more than lucky he and Jean are looking after me now.”

Originally from Bredhurst, she lived in Lower Rainham Road, Rainham, for 75 years before moving to New Ash Green.

She and Cyril met while working at the Rainham Co-op.

Driver Cyril would delivered meat and coal, and Dorothy used to take a little cart around delivering milk.

They married three years later, on August 5, 1939 – just a month before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Cyril joined the Royal West Kent Regiment and was on active service for the duration of the war, serving mostly as a driver out in Africa.

With Cyril gone, Dorothy had to take over his driving duties at home. Having never been behind the wheel before, after just a couple of lessons she was given the van and told to get going.

Laughing at the memory she said: “The foreman said to me ‘off you go’. I said, ‘shouldn’t I have more lessons?’ but he said I’d ‘soon get the hang of it’. And that was that.”

There was a party for Dorothy at the London Golf Club in Stansted, Ash, at the weekend, with friends and family she hadn’t seen for years. She got lots of Marks and Spencer vouchers and is planning a visit to Bluewater.

Dorothy had three brothers and two sisters. Two have passed away, but Molly, 90, Mary, 97, and Nick, 87 still live close by.