The widow of a Sussex flying ace has celebrated her 100th birthday - and the big event proved a surprise for Vera Pashley.

Mrs Pashley, who was married to Cecil, known as Pash, believed her birthday was on July 15.

But when family members checked, they discovered the real date was July 26.

The reason for the mix-up is being kept a secret by Mrs Pashley but she says it has not caused her any concern.

She said: "I'm excited about becoming 100 years old. But I got here due to positive thinking.

"You are what you think - you've got to be hopeful all the time and think everything will come right in the end."

Mrs Pashley spent most of her life helping her husband put Shoreham Airport on the map.

Pash was a pioneer aviator and started one of the first flying clubs in the country in Shoreham in 1911, after teaching himself to fly.

In the days when planes were still a curiosity, he bought a Bleriot cross-Channel monoplane and shared his skills at the Southern Aero Club.

During the Second World War, he spent 3,250 hours as an instructor in the Empire air training scheme, teaching pilots in Britain, Canada and Africa, and was made an MBE in 1948.

After the war he re-opened the club at Shoreham, offering "joy rides" - with the pilot in the rear seat of the plane and two people in the front cockpit.

By the time he died in 1969, aged 77, it was believed he taught more people to fly than any other pilot, clocking up around 20,000 hours.

Mrs Pashley, who lived with her husband in Oxen Avenue, Shoreham, helped run the Southern Aero Club.

Mrs Pashley celebrated her big day yesterday with 12 family members near her home in Dorking, Surrey.