NOT covering your skin in “silly creams and makeup” is the secret to having “beautiful” skin at the age of 100, according to one Dorset centenarian.

Muriel Caley, who has lived at Newstone House in Sturminster Newton for the past year, was the centre of attention at a party with family, friends and fellow residents when she celebrated making the grand age.

And on her special day, she revealed her secret of longevity, saying: “I’m just very lucky. I can’t believe it.”

Muriel is well known at the Colten Care home for her sense of humour, love of puzzles – and skin that staff describe as ‘beautiful’.

“My secret for still having beautiful skin at my age is not covering it in silly creams and makeup,” she said.

Among the party guests was Muriel’s daughter, Faye, who said: “Mum has happy memories of her young life in India. She was born in Calcutta, now Kolkata, in December 1923.

“She had two sisters and they were all very close. When they eventually went their separate ways, the three of them continued to write to each other weekly.

“Both her sisters ended up living in the USA with American husbands.

“Mum also loved her days at boarding school in India, at the Loreto Convent in Shillong.”

Muriel met her husband Arnold in Bombay, now Mumbai.

Muriel Caley in her younger days with husband Arnold

When she was 24, the couple moved to the UK as India went through the 1947 Partition and changed political borders after the dissolution of the British Raj.

Settling with Arnold in Sheffield, Muriel had a career as a school secretary while she brought up Faye and son, Tim.

In later life, the great grandmother relocated to Dorset after a hospital stay to be nearer her family, moving to Newstone House in early 2023.

“Muriel is a lovely lady with a great sense of humour,” said the home’s Companionship Team leader, Kate Seck.

“She recollects with fondness her boarding school years in India and her adult life in Sheffield.

“It was an honour and a privilege to help her celebrate such a landmark birthday along with her family.”

Muriel with her 100th birthday card from staff and fellow residents at Colten Care’s Newstone House care home in Sturminster Newton. With her is daughter Faye and a friend of the family, Pyrenean Shepherd dog, Bungee