Flags go up in honour of centenarian resident's birthday

In the course of her working life, Alice Shill, now 102 years old, spent many hours making flags for national ceremonial events, but now the bunting has been put up in her honour in a care home in Hailsham, East Sussex.

To celebrate her birthday on 20 January, the team at Care UK’s Bowes House care home organised a special party for residents and relatives. Balloons spelled out her age, she was surrounded by bouquets, and she blew out candles galore on a cake made especially for her.

Visitors included Hailsham Mayor Councillor, Jo Bentley, and Police Support Community Officers, Alison Bond and Faye Fletcher, whose beat passes the home.

Mrs Shill’s niece-by-marriage Daphne Grime said she had “never, ever heard aunt grumble” and added: “It is no surprise to me that she reached 102.”

The daughter of a printer and a survivor of two world wars Mrs Shill spent 50 years as a machinist working for flag and bunting manufacturers Arthur Smart and Sons in Bermondsey Street, London where she met her future husband, Geoffrey. One of her strongest wartime memories is of the time when she was blown from one side of the room to the other when a bomb dropped nearby during the Second World War.

Mrs Shill has no special advice for living a long life. “I have just lived an ordinary life,” she said.