A CENTENARIAN from Bridport celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends.

Born in Asker Mead, Esther Kenway was the eldest of three daughters in the Mabb family and studied at Bridport Grammar School.

In her younger years she was a keen sportswoman, representing the school and county in tennis and hockey as well as winning many swimming medals in the West Bay regattas.

Although Esther wanted to become a PE teacher she said this was 'frowned upon' by her parents so she became an assistant dispenser at Hilton and Moss chemists in East Street.

Mrs Kenway said she met her husband, Cyril Kenway, through Bridport Tennis Club, adding: "Our first date was a bet, he challenged me to a singles tennis match and said if I won he'd take me to the pictures.

"He let me win, and the rest is history."

The pair married in Bridport Congregational Church in April 1939 and moved to their first home in Yeovil, in a new bungalow adjoining the Westland airfield.

They were later evacuated to Yetminster in 1939 until the worst of the initial bombing was over, and Mr Kenway served in the home guard building planes while Mrs Kenway dispensed for a Yeovil chemist.

Mrs Kenway was not far from the drama of wartime air raids though, and said she narrowly escaped with her life when the Yeovil Woolworths was bombed.

She said she had to push her way out of the building through crowds after they were locked in for safety.

In 1944 the Kenways' daughter Hilary was born, and by 1946 the couple had returned to Bridport where Cyril joined Rendall and Coombes as an engineer.

Daughter Hilary said her mother continued to play tennis and badminton and enjoyed sea-fishing with her cousins, often going prawning at Eype or Seatown.

She added Mrs Kenway's other main hobby was music and she played piano at church services, school choirs and country dance classes.

She also sang with the Bridport Choral Society, helping found The New Elizabethan Singers in 1966.

At the age of 70 she decided to learn German, and Hilary said her mother still enjoys reading letters sent her from German-speaking friends.

Mr and Mrs Kenway travelled extensively through Europe and to Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Greece and Russia, and she still enjoys visiting France for holidays with her daughter.

"I still can't believe I have reached one hundred, but I am determined to keep going," she said of her milestone birthday.

Hilary said of the celebrations: “We have thoroughly enjoyed the day. Mother very much enjoyed opening her card from the Queen, that was of course the highlight.

“We had a lot of cousins here and it was a wonderful family gathering.”