Staff at Hexham Nursing home made sure a resident had a special surprise for her 100th Birthday.

Dorothy Gardiner is a resident at Lowgate Care Home in Allendale, Hexham.

She was born in Tynemouth on November 1921 and as far as she could remember loved school, which lead her to be allowed to work at her grandmothers shop - which she was very proud of.

Later on, her next adventure was in her late twenties when her father moved the family to Lowgate Hexham, where he got a job as a Gardner and Dorothy got a job as a care worker in the local Barnardo’s home.

A few years later, World War II approached and it was then, that Dorothy's life changed. She did her duty and became one of the land army girls - something she will tell staff about when asked or not.

She now lives a quieter life with but staff at the nursing home wanted to celebrate her 100th in style and with help from the community.

Activities co-ordinator Kim Miller was behind the idea.

Kim said: "She kept saying that she was looking forward to her birthday and then other days she would say that no one would get her a card or any presents.

" I knew staff and some family members would send her cards but I thought since it was a big birthday, she needed a lot more.

" I didn't want her to know how many she would get, so we kept it a secret.

"I put a post out on Facebook where our families and friends were able to share it to the local schools so they could get involved in the appeal.

Kim adds: "It's hard as she didn't have a lot of friends or family about so we need the appeal to go viral.

"We did not know how well the appeal was going to go and how many she would get but we are thrilled with the result.

"Overall she got 126 cards, including a card of the queen and a card of the local fire station."