A WOMAN who has just celebrated her 100th birthday once danced with Hollywood star Charlie Chaplin and had a miracle escape during the Blitz in the Second World War.

May Florence “Kitty” Coulter celebrated her big milestone on Saturday at Heywood Lodge, Billericay. Kitty has always thought herself as boring, but she has really lived a quite remarkable life.

She has always had a passion for tap dancing. When she was ten, she joined the dance troupe Beams Breezy Babes and she had the incredible opportunity to meet and dance with Charlie Chaplin. All these years later she still describes it as an unforgettable and fantastic experience.

But her dreams of a career on the stage came to an end when she was 16. She was sent to work as a domestic servant but luckily, she met and married her husband James Coulter in 1940.

Her daughter, Janet Keeble, 71, of Stock Road, Billericay, said: “Mum has had a very adventurous life with lots of ups and downs.

“Shortly mum and dad got married, he was drafted to the war as a Desert Rat in the North African campaign as a Bren Gun Carrier. He was responsible for making sure the troops had enough arms supplies.

“Mum lived in Blackheath at the time, and she had a tough life. She worked in an ammunition factory with a other women whose husbands were also drafted to the war. Everyone dreaded about getting a letter from the British Army.”

Kitty also survived the Blitz. One day, when she was on her way back from work there was a terrible attack on Lewisham. When the bombs fell, she was flung to the floor by the clock tower. She remembered vividly she was surrounded by dead bodies and a lady who was holding her deceased baby.

But her day of horror had not ended when she discovered her whole street had been flattened and her neighbours had died. The only survivor was her cat.

Janet said: “When mum returned to her neighbourhood, a fireman came to her carrying her cat. It probably sounds strange, but in those hard times company is important.”

When Victory Day finally came, Kitty along with millions of citizens, rushed to the gates of Buckingham Palace to celebrate. She was standing at the front of the gates dancing with strangers, knowing that the war was finally over.

Janet said: “Mum hadn’t heard from dad for so long, she thought he was dead. When she came home, a neighbour told her he had returned. Mum rushed into the house and found him sitting in the bathtub.”

After the war, Janet was born and the Coulters rebuilt their lives. James died in 1987 aged 67 in Guy’s Hospital, London. Shortly afterwards Kitty left the hospital and bumped into an old friend from the Beams Breezy Babes.

Janet said: “It was fate. Mum joined the troupe Oldie Rollies, there were ten of them and most were the Breezy Babes. Mum continued tap dancing until 2009 but stopped because she had broken her hip.”