An extraordinary milestone has been celebrated at a Kent nursing home where four residents have chalked up a combined 401 years.

Three of them are centenarians and another will celebrate her 100th birthday next month.

On Tuesday, it was Cecil Smurthwaite’s time to turn 100 which was marked with a party at the Red House Nursing Home in Canterbury.

And among the special guests invited to celebrate with him were fellow residents 100-year-old Joan Allson, 102-year-old Margaret Lewis and Pauline Ventress, who will be 100 on July 13.

Another resident who would have been welcomed to the party was 103-year-old Megan Dixon who sadly passed away just five weeks ago.

The remaining four say they have no special secret to their longevity, other than keeping active, both physically and mentally.

Cecil, who was born in the year that John Logie Baird began developing the first prototype television, had also been married for 75 years, before losing his wife Ada in 2021.

A Yorkshireman, his first job, aged 16, was helping pensioners sign their pension books at home.

Cecil had ambitions to fly with the RAF but was grounded by a weakness discovered in his right eye.

Instead, he joined the RAF Voluntary Service where he trained as a compass adjuster.

He was promoted to sergeant, eventually leaving the service with a glowing reference from his commanding officer, who described him as “extremely reliable”, adding: “He can be trusted to perform any duties given to him and his character leaves nothing to be desired.”

Cecil had met Ada when she was 18 at a dance in a working man’s club in Yorkshire.

He later worked in the civil service and the couple moved to Westbere near Canterbury in 2008 to be near their daughter, Sue.

“I wouldn’t change a thing about my life,” he told KentOnline, “because I have had a very happy one.”

Cecil was presented with a birthday card by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Jean Butcher, who visited the home for the occasion on Tuesday and also met the other centenarians.

The oldest resident at the Red House is 102-year-old Margaret Lewis who was born in Canterbury and has lived all her life in the city, except for working in London during the war and briefly in Cardiff where she met her husband Sid.

“My first job was as a housemaid at the Cathedral Gate Hotel when I was just 14 and I earned five shillings a week,” she said.

“It wasn’t a lot of money but I had to give it all to my mother, anyway,” she said.

She then became a bus conductor and then for 20 years cooked firemen their meals at Canterbury fire station.

“That's where I probably got my taste for a chip butty,” said the mum-of-two, adding: “An occasional tot of whisky is also a treat.”

“Getting married was the happiest day of my life”, she said, “and I had a wonderful husband.”

Joan Allson, who celebrated her 100th birthday on March 20, is the most travelled of all her fellow centenarians.

She was born in China where her father worked in the tea trade, but was schooled in Bedford in the UK.

She then moved to Hong Kong but with the Japanese invasion during the war, the family was forced to flee to Australia where she started her long career as a nurse.

“I met some nurses when I was on the boat to Australia who were very nice and I think that’s what inspired me to go into the profession,” she said.

Joan never married - “nobody asked me”, she laments - but focused on her work, eventually returning to the UK where she became a district nurse and midwife in London, visiting mums on her bicycle. She later qualified as a prestigious Queen’s Nurse.

“I’ve always kept busy and taken life as it comes,” she said.

“I think life was simpler for us but young people today have many more opportunities.”

Pauline Ventress, at a mere 99 until her birthday on July 13, is the ‘baby’ of the group.

“I haven’t a clue why I’ve kept going but I’ve always been active and enjoyed walking,” she said.

“I was the eldest of five children and my parents never got anything like child benefits.

“So while we were looked after well, there was a shortage of money and never anything spare for any treats or luxuries.”

Pauline met her late husband Gordon in Southampton where they both worked as civil servants and they married in 1955.

She became a primary school teacher and was also a keen dressmaker, making all her own clothes.

Director of the Red House Nursing Home, John Gichigi, said: “In the 38 years the business has been running, we have only ever had two 100-year-olds at any one time, so it’s quite remarkable to have four.

“They are lovely people with so much experience of life and we do our best to make sure they are comfortable and content.”