BORN on July 5, 1919, in Blackheath, the Rev Colin Highmore has lived through the depression of the 1930s, the Second World War and the age of the internet.

He celebrated his 100th birthday with a party, and a singsong and surrounded by friends and family at Fairways Retirement Village in Chippenham last Friday.

The Mayor of Chippenham, Cllr Desna Allen, (pictured with his niece Elizabeth) attended the party to congratulate him.

"He can't believe he's 100," said his niece Elizabeth Chamberlain, "and keeps saying he feels like he's 60."

She said he became the vicar of St Peter's parish church in Clapham and later St James church in Riddlesdown in south London.

He has a sister called Sheila Bolton aged 97 who lives in Frampton Cottrell, but did not marry so his only relatives are through his sister.

His father was injured in the First World War in the Battle of the Somme and was provided with a pension which he used to pay for Colin's education and his time at Cambridge University where he studied maths.

Following university he taught economics at a school in Norwich, before deciding to train as a Church of England vicar.

During the Second World War as a conscientious objector he was given manual work on the railways in Swindon.

He told his niece that he had seen a lot of changes in his life including the role of women who now could enter the priesthood and had careers of their own.

His carers at Fairways said he enjoyed ballroom dancing and took an interest in opera the productions of which he followed closely when he lived in London. He came to live in Fairways three years ago after living on his own in a flat in Croydon had become too difficult.