Cards and flowers fill the care home where Agnes Poulton celebrated her 103rd birthday this week.

Alongside fellow residents and staff at The Fairway, Agnes was joined by her niece and Councillor Ron Spellen, chairman of Three Rivers District Council, for the happy occasion on Monday.

She said: “I’m feeling very good. I feel the same as I did when I was much younger.

“I’ve never really felt that old.”

Agnes added: “I don’t think there’s any great secret. It’s just one of those things.”

The daughter of a policeman, Agnes was born in Plumstead, south-east London, in 1908.

She lived with her family – father Henry, mother Annie and brother Henry (Harry) – in Willesden Green until she was 13 when they moved to Watford.

Henry Snr joined the Seventh Day Adventist Church and came to Watford where the denomination has its headquarters at Stanborough Park and found work in the Granose Foods factory there.

The family lived in a house on what was part of the church-owned Kingswood Estate and is now part of Leavesden Green School’s playing field.

After leaving school at 14, Agnes worked on the Kingswood farm before joining her father at the factory, where she worked for 40 years.

She also spent 20 years as a St John Ambulance volunteer and attended North Watford Church in Leavesden Road.

Agnes lived in Harris Road before moving to a flat in Abbey View after the death of her mother, and has lived at The Fairway, in Green Lane, South Oxhey, since 2003.

Councillor Spellen said: “It’s been a wonderful experience meeting Agnes. In my year as chairman, this is the most memorable time I’ve had. It’s been wonderful.”