MOST people celebrating their 101st birthday would be happy with a bunch of flowers, a slice of cake and glass of sherry. However, celebrations for one Gorleston care home resident were spiced up this week when she was visited by an “officer and a gentleman”.

MOST people celebrating their 101st birthday would be happy with a bunch of flowers, a slice of cake and glass of sherry.

However, celebrations for one Gorleston care home resident were spiced up this week when she was visited by an “officer and a gentleman”.

Dozens of residents from St Edmund's residential home on Marine Parade joined Kathleen Deeley to celebrate her 101st birthday.

The party on Tuesday went off with a bang - champagne flowed freely and cheeks went a little red when a special visitor entertained the many residents by stripping down to his boxer shorts.

And if that wasn't enough, party animal Kathleen had a second bite of the cherry: enjoying another party with friends and relatives in the afternoon.

Kathleen is the eldest and only survivor of six children. Her parents, Percy and Clara Halls, owned Halls the Butchers on King Street and later on in Anson Road, Southtown.

Before and during the second world war, Kathleen worked as a secretary, and after the war, she worked in the offices at Packet Furniture, later to become Tecta Furniture.

She married Lew Deeley in the early 1950s and moved to Woburn Sands where he ran the local bakery. When Lew retired, the couple moved to Brasenoese Avenue in Gorleston.

Lew died in 1984. Kathleen spent several years at Braham Court, Gorleston, before becoming a resident at St Edmund's.