An Ashford centenarian has received her fourth birthday telegram from the Queen after celebrating her 107th birthday last week.

Leonora Graves, a resident at Singleton Nursing Home, spent her special day on Wednesday, November 30 with three generations of her family.

She is the oldest resident to have stayed at the nursing home.

Mrs Graves said: “It was wonderful.

“The best part was opening up the parcels. I had a drink of whisky... it was horrible.”

Mrs Graves received a royal telegram on her 100th and 105th birthdays, and has continued to receive them.

Mrs Graves was born in Scotland in 1909. She is one of seven children, and the last surviving sibling.

She was two years old when the Titanic sank and went to school during the First World War.

Her father worked as a lighthouse keeper in Lossiemouth and was transferred to Stornoway where they moved in her teenage years.

Mrs Graves then moved to the south of England at the age of 16, and worked as a housekeeper in London.

In the 1940s she moved to Ashford, and worked at a prisoner of war camp in the latter part of the Second World War.

In 1934, she had her only child Margaret with her first husband who passed away three years later.

Mrs Graves sadly outlived her daughter, who passed away in 1992, but enjoys spending time with her two grandsons, Michael and Derek Owen.

She also has seven great grandchildren and 10 great-great-grandchildren.

She lived in Beaver Road with her husband Jack before they both moved to the nursing home in Singleton in 2010 in adjacent rooms, but Jack passed away a couple of months after the move.

Mrs Graves has been a keen gardener all her life, and used to eat fresh vegetables from her garden.

Her grandson Michael Owen, 56, cannot recall Mrs Graves ever eating a takeaway meal and believes her active and healthy youth has helped contribute to her long life.

He said: “It’s amazing. I think that for the grandchildren, and even the great-grandchildren, to have a great-great-grandmother is fairly unusual.”

After losing his mother years ago, Michael is grateful for the long, loving relationship he and his family have with Mrs Graves.

He added: “Really, all my life she’s been a pensioner. You get to a certain age and you don’t expect to say you’re going to see your nan.”

Mrs Graves’ room was decorated last week with banners and balloons, and she enjoyed a sherry to mark the momentous occasion.

Do you know another centenarian in Ashford? Email us the Kentish Express at kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk