DASHING off a daily repertoire of songs on the piano as well as a "little drop of gin" is one remarkable Herefordian's recipe for a long and happy life.

That advice has clearly worked for Dorothy Wilding, born 100 years ago on a farm in Peterchurch, and this week celebrating her big birthday with a family sing-song around the piano at her home in Hereford.

"I get up in the morning and I go straight to the piano - it keeps me on top of the world!" explains Dorothy, who was born at the start of the First World War.

When peace was declared at the end of the Second World War, crowds gathered in the street outside Dorothy's Birmingham home where she led the celebrations with her spirited piano playing.

Her life began at Stensley Farm, Peterchurch, the youngest of five brothers and three sisters, and she remembers helping her mother take poultry to the railway station in Peterchurch bound for South Wales. At the age of four, Dorothy took to her mother's piano like a duck to water, and for the past 96 years she has played every day since.

Photographs of her Victorian parents, Ellen and Seth hang above the piano at her home in Tupsley, Hereford.

Recognised as a talented pianist, when she was nine, Dorothy recalls catching the Red & White bus into Hereford every week for lessons with a music teacher.

People would call at the family farm to hear Dorothy play, and her music was always at the heart of family get-togethers.

Dorothy married her husband, George, from Vowchurch in 1938, and a year later he was recalled to the Royal Tank Regiment to serve with the British Expeditionary Force in France.

When he was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, Dorothy was reunited with him, and they lived in Birmingham where she worked as a nursery school teacher.

"I'd always play at concerts and Christmas carols, and at the end of the war I played in front of the whole school," she says. "The headmistress came up to me after and said, my goodness, you do a good job!"

Amid the celebrations in Birmingham, Dorothy pushed her piano out into the yard outside her home. "Everyone gathered round for a sing-song, it was a wonderful atmosphere," she says.

George and Dorothy returned to Hereford in 1951 with their son Philip. George served in the Herefordshire Light Infantry, later working as a clerk, and he was moved to Stirling Lines.

When he died in 1982, Dorothy found solace in her music, her family and friends, explains Philip.

"I've always had a piano," she says. "I do an hour or so a day."

Her eyesight has deteriorated so that she can no longer read music, but she can still play a vast repertoire of music, including poignant First World War songs such as It's a Long Way To Tipperary.

With her special card from the Queen on the piano, Dorothy played a longer session than usual to entertain visitors at her birthday party, among them, Philip, and nephews and nieces Eddie, Brian, Beryl, Rosemary, Shirley, Eileen and Robin.

"She has a lovely nature," says her son, "She likes a bit of fun and can be quite mischievous, and she also likes a little drop of gin every day!"