Ash Vale

There he spent 15 shillings on a sheath knife.

Then he made his way to the nearby village of Ash Vale.

He never seemed to go back to his wife and take her to France as he'd promised, and perhaps that was part of his unreliable character, that he was wandering off.

It's very plain that he deserts again.

It's an area he would've had a reasonable knowledge of because of his school days and because of his military career.

It was probably that memory that had drawn him down to that area, and he visited the railway station.

Ash Vale stood on the line from Alton to London Waterloo.

It was not a busy station most of the time, but at weekends it thronged with soldiers on leave from the nearby Army base.

A special birthday reception was held at the home and guests enjoyed a special birthday cake made by the home's second chef, Alina.

Born in Aldershot, where her father was stationed in the army, she then moved nearby to Ashvale in Surrey, then to Uckfield, before coming to Lidford's, where she is enjoying a new chapter of her life.

She married Bill and has two children, Jackie and David.

The birthday girl said, she feels no different and the secret to long life is to enjoy life, family and doing what you can to help others.