A CENTENARIAN has celebrated her landmark birthday in fine style.

Flo Hardy, who has lived in Four Marks for the past 65 years, celebrated her 100th birthday in remarkable style on February 24.

She attended three parties which took her 500 miles in 36 hours, raising £1,000 for The Alzheimer’s Society along the way thanks to donations from family and friends.

Born and raised in Cornwall, after training as a nurse in London’s Mile End during the blitz, Flo joined the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps as an army nurse and went to France after D-Day to tend the wounded in a field hospital.

She moved to Four Marks after the war and ran a nursing home in Blackberry Lane for 35 years, while her husband ran the adjoining farm. The late Bill Hardy served as chairman of East Hampshire District Council and was also on Four Marks Parish Council for over 25 years.

Flo still cooks and gardens and is an active member of the Inner Wheel Club in Alton.

The birthday girl’s party marathon began with a family party at home and continued on with a second party for more than 80 friends at Beech village hall.

Originally from close to Falmouth, Flo then travelled to Truro to host a party for all her Cornish family. The last surviving of 14 siblings, there are 357 direct descendants of her parents to date.

Flo’s own family is relatively modest – a son and daughter, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild with a second due in March.