THE secret of a long life is to enjoy it, according to a Llandudno lady who has celebrated her 100th birthday.

True to her word Gwen Arrowsmith enjoyed her two birthday parties, one a buffet in Coed Isaf Nursing Home, where she lives, and another at St George's hotel, Llandudno last weekend.

Gwen was born in South London, but her family moved from South Bermondsey to a new council estate in Bromley, Kent, in the late 1920s, which they loved as they had a garden and could grow vegetables.

The family moved back to South London later and . The family took a lodger, a medical student who Gwen married. Together they ran a doctor’s practice in London until they were bombed out in the Blitz. Her husband then enlisted and was killed.

Her second husband was an aircraft engineer, they lived in Crawley Down near Gatwick until retirement when they moved to Old Colwyn. Gwen’s second husband died in 1996 and she moved to Heaton Place.

Gwen has done a variety of jobs including working in Lyons Tea Rooms, being a veterinary nurse and medical receptionist, and she ran a record shop in Bromley in the 1950s and developed a reputation for spotting future hits. She used to take part in ballroom dancing competitions in the 1940/50s. She loved animals and had cats and dachsunds.