100th birthday party for Kit

That's what Kit Reeves does, and she should know - she was 100 years old on Saturday November 29 and up until after midnight enjoying her party.

Kit celebrated at home on the Marina with friends and family including daughter Kathleen Mayhew and her husband John. Kit's son Ron and his wife Beverley came over specially from their home in Michigan to wish her a happy 100th birthday, and are spending three weeks here on a visit.

Kit commented: "It was beautiful. It was wonderful to see them all come here."

She also has two grand-daughters, Suzanne and Christine, and two great grandchildren, Joshua and Isaac.

Real name Skeets Bett, she was born in South East London and was the eldest of six children - she had four sisters and a brother. She left school and began working at Hartley's jam factory in Bermondsey where she stayed for ten years. She married Alf Reeves in 1934 at Camberwell Register Office and they raised their two children, first living in Harrow, then Hayes in Middlesex. Alf died in 1975 and Kit later moved to Wokingham in Berkshire.

Apart from looking after the family, Kit did a number of jobs, including at Heinz and Kraft foods, and continued to work throughout her life, even at 80 when she was still doing the odd cleaning job for friends.

She has lived in Bexhill for 10 years having come here originally to visit her daughter, and still walks right across town to visit shops or the supermarket, and is able to climb the 80-plus stairs to their top floor flat on the seafront if the lift is not working.

She enjoys a little Guinness every evening and a brandy nightcap but thinks her secret is to keep busy and stay active.

"You have got to be interested...it's no good sitting in an armchair."

Her daughter, also known as Kit, said: "She is always on the go and gets use from her bus pass going to Hastings and Eastbourne...She always worked and is still active. She has always looked after us and put the children first. She tries to do things all the time and still knits - she makes things for the children.

"She was up on Saturday until one o'clock - but the rest of us were all flagging."