FAMILY and friends gathered yesterday to celebrate the 100th birthday of a lifelong Darlington resident. Doris Wells marked the occasion at her home in Danby Lodge, in Coniscliffe Road.

She married Cyril Wells in 1926 and had five children - Joan, Dennis, Kathleen, Sheila and Dorothy, ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

The couple were active in the former Victoria Road and Cockerton Methodist churches, where Mr Wells was choirmaster and organist.