On December 11, 1915, Britain was gripped by the First World War and John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields had appeared anonymously in Punch magazine just days earlier.

It was also the day that Thomas Frederick Rees was born.

Next week, Mr Rees will celebrate his 100th birthday with friends and family.

He will be a familiar face to many – Mr Rees spent almost 30 years teaching in schools across the Dartford area, including 16 years as headmaster at St Paulinus Church of England Primary School in Crayford.

He took up the post in 1964 and oversaw the school’s move from its Victorian building in Iron Mill Lane to a new building on the opposite side of the road, where it still stands today.

The school’s current head teacher, Sarah Young, was keen to wish Mr Rees a happy birthday.

She said: “We’d love to send our best wishes and regards to Mr Rees for his birthday and thank him for his service to the school.”

Mr Rees was also deputy head at Temple Hill School upon its opening in January 1953, where he taught boys and girls in their final year before they moved on to secondary school.

At the outset of his career he enjoyed a spell teaching at Wilmington School.

Mr Rees is now living at Harpwood Residential Care Home in Seven Mile Lane, Wrotham Heath, where he will enjoy the company of friends and family to celebrate reaching 100 years on Friday next week.