Arcot House resident Mary Harlow celebrated her 100th birthday on Tuesday, July 20 with a garden party in the care home's grounds in beautiful sunshine.

Mary was joined by family, friends and other residents, to enjoy Pimm's, a delicious buffet, live music and champagne toasts to her long life.

Viewers of BBC Spotlight may remember seeing Mary on television three years ago. In September 2018, she and her husband Les celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary and the BBC made a programme about their interesting and eventful lives.

Mary and Les were childhood sweethearts who lost touch, but found each other again by chance during the Second World War and got married.

Mary was a beautiful soprano singer who won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and originally hoped to become a great opera singer.

Les was a decorated Lancaster pilot during the war, and he and his men were the last fully surviving Lancaster crew of the conflict. They were nicknamed The Magnificent Seven.

The story of how Mary and Les got together

Mary was born in Shotton, North Wales and Les in Chapeltown, near Sheffield in South Yorkshire. When Les was very young, his father died and his mother brought the family back to Shotton, where she had come from. This is how Les met Mary at about eight years of age. Then, sadly, Les's mother also died and he was sent to boarding school in Ruthin, while Mary went to the local grammar school.

At 16, Mary won a scholarship to the Guildhall. She was very young to go alone to the big city of London from a small Welsh town, but her mentor was the famous tenor, David Lloyd, and he took her under his wing. She loved her music course but was unable to continue when the war intervened and she had to return home.

But the war brought Mary and Les together again. Les, now in the RAF, was returning from pilot training in Alabama, USA. By chance he met a stranger on a train who knew Mary and knew where she had moved to. Les immediately searched for her and found her. They married soon afterwards, in 1943. Such things happened in wartime! As Mary always says: "It was meant to be".

After the war, in 1947, Les joined what was then British European Airways as a pilot and they moved to Ruislip, then later to Gerrards Cross. Les eventually became chief pilot of British Airways. Mary devoted her life to her home and bringing up her family, but also travelled all over the world. Mary and Les had two daughters, who have produced four children and eight great-grandchildren.

Mary and Les's life in Sidmouth

The couple retired to Brownlands Road, Sidmouth in 1981, 40 years ago, and always loved it. They worshipped at All Saints' Church and joined Sidmouth Golf Club, where Les was Captain of the Veterans. For many years, Mary used her musical talents as a singer with the Sidmouth Choral Society, where she was a front-row soprano until she was in her 90s. The couple made many good friends in Sidmouth.

Mary's daughter Cathy said: "My mother has always been artistic. Apart from playing the piano and singing, she loves drawing, knitting, making clothes, doing needlepoint and crocheting. She has also written lovely poems, some serious and some funny. She enjoys being with people and has a great sense of humour. Most of all, Mary loves her family.

"Last September Mary and Les celebrated their 77th anniversary, but sadly on 9th November, Les passed away at the grand age of 99, after a fall and surgery for a broken hip.

"Mary moved to Arcot House in August 2020, where she has a lovely new room, overlooking the pretty garden. She has settled in well and enjoys taking part in the activities provided by the friendly carers. She is a great lady with a friendly personality, who maintains she still has all her faculties, although her eyesight and hearing sometimes let her down!"

"Despite losing the love of her life, Mary has carried on with tremendous courage and has now reached her 100th birthday."

Cathy added: "We are all so proud of Mary. She is an amazing example of that very special wartime generation and, like Captain Tom, a pattern for us all to follow."