OLIVE Smith managed to pack two long careers into her 100 years and only retired when she suffered a fracture hip in her 80s.

The former nurse marked her special anniversary this week with a family party that brought relatives from as far away as Canada.

She left Colston’s Girls’ School and after gaining secretarial skills went to work for a research station in Long Ashton.

But before long she decided to retrain as a nurse at Bristol General Hospital. It was the start of the Second World War and Bristol would suffer horrendous bombing in the years that followed. The General was close to the docks – the target of the raids.

“The first night the siren went we rushed the patients downstairs,” said Olive. She explained they had to take mattresses with them to protect them against any blast damage.

Those who were too ill to be moved were laid underneath their hospital beds.

It was while she was training that she met Victor, a civil servant who went to the same church and happened to live in the next street.

On one occasion she was visiting him before she went on duty and an air raid started. It was only thanks to a passing motorist who stopped and offered a lift that she managed to get there.

Olive and Victor married in the 1940s and their first child Paul was born in 1945. Olive carried on nursing, but worked in different clinics.

She went on to have two more children, Anne and Jonathan and finally retired when she was 60.

Victor died in 1983 aged 64 and Olive moved to Over Wallop and then Shipton Bellinger in Hampshire to be near family before settling at Fitzwarren House on the outskirts of Swindon.

Not one to put her feet up, she started a second career almost by accident. She was a keen flower arranger and what started out as a hobby became a thriving business as more and more people asked her to do the bouquets and arrangements for their weddings.

In fact it was such a success she had to take on a couple of friends to help out and she was into her 80s when she finally retired after suffering a fracture hip.

The grandmother to five and great grandmother to three celebrated her birthday on Wednesday at a family party with relatives including one grandson who made a surprise visit all the way from Canada.