100 NOT OUT!

Her father was a soldier in the Royal Sussex Regiment and spent time in India, while her grandparents ran their own laundry business in Hastings.

Hilda's family moved to Lewes in 1914 and lived in Eastport Lane, Southover. Incredibly advanced as a pupil at Southover C of E School, Hilda helped other pupils with their reading.

Even at 100 years of age Hilda is as sharp as a pin and has colourful memories of events on the world stage during her life.

At the outbreak of the First World War her father, George, who had been a regular soldier for a spell, was recalled to the army. He would die of wounds received on the first day of the Somme, having returned to an English military hospital via Newhaven.

George's funeral would be the first military funeral from the Great War to take place in Lewes and was held at Southover Church in whose graveyard he now lies.

In 1932 Hilda married Charlie Richardson who was nearly the boy next door, living just houses away in Edward Street.

Charlie worked on the railway but was killed in an accident in 1938 leaving Hilda to look after their two children Brian and Jean.

At this time Hilda and the youngsters were living in Rushbridge Cottages, South Street, opposite the fish and chip shop.

During the early years of the next war Hilda worked in Every's iron foundry before poor health stopped her. She married for the second time in 1946, her spouse being Alfred Attfield. The couple celebrated their golden anniversary at the Ocean Hotel, Saltdean, in 1996.