Molly takes a trip down memory lane

Molly Lewis, 100, was presented with birthday cards from the Queen and Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, before a cradle to present day video story was screened by her son.

Molly said: “It was wonderful, it was absolutely amazing. To see my life from a baby in the pram right up to the present day. Wonderful.”

Molly was separated from her husband while he served in Italy during the Second World War, and spent five years raising her two children on her own.

“I wouldn’t want to go through the war again,” said Molly. “I didn’t see him for nearly five years. My daughter was only six-months-old when he went into the army, she was five when he came back. She didn’t like that man who slept in my bed. It took some time for us to settle back in.”

Molly was born in Cranleigh, Surrey, before moving to Worthing in 1954 so her father could continue in the meat trade which had been wrought by war time rationing.

“I’ve loved Worthing. I wanted to come and live by the sea, and it is a lovely town,” she said.