A DIDCOT resident has celebrated his 100th birthday among 150 of his friends and family.

Eric Tappin was born in North Stoke near Wallingford on March 31, 1913, and went on to achieve distinguished military service.

Friends and family gathered at Didcot Conservative Club in Foxhall Road yesterday to celebrate his birthday. Mr Tappin said: “I am totally overwhelmed.”

After attending primary school in Mongewell, He studied at Wallingford Grammar School.

He met his wife Lillian in London and they married in 1939. She died in 2007, aged 91.

Mr Tappin was called up to the RAF and was based in Norfolk and Canada during the Second World War. He was awarded the Imperial Service Medal in 1978 after continuing to serve with the RAF and work for the MoD.

Mr Tappin has three children – Julia, 69, Adrian, 66, and Graham, who died in 1997 aged 57.