PARTY guests dressed in 1940s costumes to honour the milestone birthday of a former York shopkeeper today.

Marjorie Kerr celebrated her 100th birthday today, with a surprise 1940s-themed party to mark the occasion, complete with a dance band.

Mrs Kerr whose father was a carpenter grew up with two sisters in Haxby. She later met her husband Bill through friends at a dance, and the married couple went on to have a daughter, Rosalin.

Mr Kerr served in the Armed Forces and was in the Ambulance Service during the Second World War before later becoming a postman.

The couple moved to Fleetwood in Blackpool where they bought and ran a grocery shop together, and returned to York in the 1960s where they ran a sweets and tobacconist shop in Fishergate opposite the Light Horseman pub until they retired. Mr Kerr died in 1982.

Mrs Kerr now lives in Bishopthorpe with Rosalin and her daughter-in-law Christina Davison.

Rosalin credited her mum's long life to "good healthy living", saying she used to love dancing and gardening, still enjoyed outings into York, and also goes into the Ebor pub in Bishopthorpe.

"She is doing really well," said Rosalin. "They were made of stronger stuff in those days."