AFTER such a long and happy life, centenarian Ray Saunders could be forgiven for hesitating when asked to name the most special moment of his 100 years.

But the former foundry worker from Woodchester answers straight away.

"It was when I got married. I married a good woman," said Ray, who wed Kathleen in 1936.

The pair met at a church event in Woodchester, the village where Ray was born on June 21, 1912 at Brown Hill Farm, the youngest of four brothers and two sisters.

Surrounded by loved ones on his special day at the Abbeyfield House nursing home in Nailsworth, Ray remembers it wasn't easy being the baby of the family. "I never got any new clothes," said Ray, sipping a celebratory glass of rum.

"I wore what the others grew out of."

He once had to wear a pair of his sister's lace-up boots.

Ray started working in the Newman Hender foundry in Woodchester at 14, eventually becoming a foreman.

During his time at the foundry, he supported workers sacked for joining a union, which led the company to re-hire them.

He was in the Homeguard during the Second World War, though according to Ray it was nothing like the TV version in Dad's Army.

"By the end of the war I could fire three different weapons and given the right sort of bombs I could disable a tank," he said. When he was younger Ray was a keen footballer with Shortwood FC and he has been a lifelong nature enthusiast.

He has four children, 10 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, many of whom joined him on Sunday for a family celebration at the home of his son Martin in Minety, Wiltshire.

Ray was hoping for his favourite plaice and chips for lunch, a meal he still enjoys every week at the George pub in Newmarket which has been his local since he first visited aged 12.

There weren't many presents for Ray though, as he asked for donations to be made to the Cotswold Care Hospice, which sent him a letter on his birthday saying it had received £2,235 worth of donations in lieu of Ray's birthday and Christmas presents over the last 10 years.