A KENDAL woman who is set to turn 100 this month has credited TV doctor Hilary Jones for her long life.
Kathleen Vines, who shares a birthday with Winston Churchill, is set to turn 100 on November 30.
A middle child of nine, Kathleen has four siblings younger and four siblings older than her.
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She has one remaining brother left who is 89 and lives in Southern Ireland.
Originally from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, after leaving school at 14 she worked in service until the war when she went to work in a munitions factory as part of the war effort.
She married her husband Geoffrey Vines at 21 after meeting him at a wedding in Yorkshire.
Geoffrey was part of the navy and was on leave at the time.
They lived in Blackpool for a number of years where Kathleen worked on the buses and then in a fruit and veg shop owned by Geoffrey's mum.
They had two children, a girl, Carol, and a boy, Geoffrey, now aged 75 and 73 retrospectively.
Her children now have two girls each which means Kathleen has all female grandchildren.
Sadly, Kathleen's husband passed away at age 70 of cancer.
Kathleen decided to move to Kendal upon her son's recommendation after he got a job working in aerospace.
"It's such a friendly place," said Kathleen. "A lot friendlier than Blackpool. I'm very lucky to have made a lot of friends here.
"I go to St George's Church every week and it's really important to me.
"There are some wonderful people and I always make sure I give a 'good morning' or a 'good afternoon' to everyone.
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"A couple of weeks ago a lady grabbed me on the arm and said 'I need to thank you.' I said 'I think you've got the wrong person' and she said 'I haven't, you’ve always got a smile for everyone and I just wanted to thank you.'
"I think that's one of the secrets of a long life, to make other people happy and give them a smile - you never know if you'll ever see them again."
She said: "Not long after my husband died, I heard Dr Hilary Jones talking on the radio about the health benefits of manuka honey.
"I was on my way shopping anyway so I decided to buy some for £4.99 and I've taken a teaspoonful a day every day - that was 31 years ago.
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"I'd like to thank Dr Jones and I would like him to know that I attribute that to my long life and I believe it's kept my brain functioning well - it would be great to have some way to thank him."
Kathleen is having a few parties for her 100th including one with her fellow residents at Jenkins Crag Court, a family party in Crooklands and celebrations on her actual birthday.
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