What’s the secret to a long life? Just live as long as you can!

That's what Doris Hooper says she is doing and it seems to be working as she celebrates her 100th birthday today (November 27).

She said: “There is no formula, there is no secret. I was once told to ‘live as long as you can my girl, and die when you can’t help it’.

“And that is what I am doing. I am just doing what I was told."

Doris was originally born in Ashford. She went on to join the army when she was in her early 20s and was stationed in Aldershot.

She was there for three years and that was when she learned to drive as her main role was driving around other officers.

The great-grandmother married her late husband John in 1947 when she was 24, two days before Queen Elizabeth II's wedding, and they moved to London.

Eventually, work brought them back to Kent and the pair moved to Cuxton, near Strood, where Doris still lives.

Around 10 years ago, Doris – who is mum to five, grandmother to nine and great-grandmother to nine – joined a knitting group at Cuxton Library to help get out of the house and socialise.

It was the first volunteer group to be set up for the birth trauma and baby bereavement charity Making Miracles which creates knitted items such as toys and blankets which can then be sold to help raise money.

Doris has created around 557 items for the organisation, totalling around £8,000 of fundraising.