AGNES Constable recently celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and family in St Albans – the city she has lived in her entire life.

Her daughter-in-law, Irene Constable, said Agnes, who has received an official 100th birthday card from the Queen, had prompted smiles by describing herself as “ninety-nine-and-a-half” just a day before her centenary celebrations on Saturday.

Irene ascribed Agnes’s longevity to plenty of hard work, physical activity, and no drinking or smoking. The keen gardener and knitter was born in Bernard Street before moving to Dalton Street at the age of three.

Upon leaving school Agnes worked as a tailoress at the former W.O. Peake factory on Hatfield Road, before marrying her first boyfriend, Alf Constable, at St Peter’s Church in 1932. Their only son, Edward, was born in February 1943.

Alf served in France and Belgium during World War Two and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in battle.

While the couple loved travelling to Scotland for holidays, they also enjoyed being at home in St Albans, where Agnes used to also help Alf tend to his prize-winning Border canaries before he died in 1988.

Friends and family members, including granddaughter Julie Vernon-Parry who flew from New York, celebrated Agnes’s 100th birthday at Strathmore Lodge last weekend.

Irene said: “The home put on a fantastic spread for her and also provided entertainment in the form of an organist. Agnes told me she had a wonderful day.”