A GREAT grandfather, who celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday, puts his health and independence down to good Welsh farming stock.

Bill Allen, of Sanderson Close, Newton Aycliffe, was brought up in Wales and says it was his start in life that has kept him strong for a century.

Mr Allen worked in iron mines, on building sites, for the Electric Board and on railway lines before retiring - though he continued to clean windows until he was 85.

It was during his time on a London building site that he met his wife Elleanor, whom he looked after at home until she died four years ago aged 86.

The couple set up home and started a family in Wales, but when Glamorgan was bombed during the Second World War they moved and settled in the North-East, where Elleanor originated from.

Mr Allen said that his six children - Kelwyn, who died, Dawn, Ann, Pauline, John and Trevor, his 15 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren are the most important part of his life.

Ann and her family will travel from their home in Australia, where Mr Allen lived for a year, this weekend for a 100th birthday party along with 15 relatives from South Wales.

Mr Allen said: "I've valued simple things like family life and enjoyed singing, gardening, crosswords and walking."