THE three 'special girls' looked grand in their birthday best. Bubbling with laughter they cut the cake and enjoyed a glass of wine in convivial company.

But this was no ordinary birthday celebration. Between them they had notched up an amazing 275 years. To mark the occasion they held a delightful buffet lunch attended by fellow residents of Venn and Orchard Cottages as well as friends from outside.

Agnes Fryer was 94 on Wednesday, January 17 and Joan Lee was 90. Making it a three-way celebration was Mollie Sinclair, 90 just four days before on Sunday, January 14.

'I do like a party,' beamed Mollie, whose daughter Susan Jacobs co-runs residential home Venn House at Lamerton, with partner Rick Whitford.

In a brief party speech Rick addressed the trio by the honorary title of 'special girls' because, he quipped: 'you are not a lady until you reach 100!'

Joan said whenever there was an anniversary at the cottages the residents, who enjoyed social events, nearly always celebrated in some way. And, even if there wasn't, they hold regular coffee mornings and music evenings.

'So, considering that our birthdays came so close together we thought it would be a good idea to combine them.'

A former tutor at the Plymouth College of Art, Joan spends a lot of her time weaving tapestries. She is also a bit of a poet and wrote a poem which she read at the cake cutting.

One verse went: 'Look forward and try/ To value and cherish each day that goes by/ For the longer one lives the more that becomes clear/ How incredibly lucky we are to be here.'

Agnes was delighted with the occasion and had not expected such a celebration.

'I had no idea they were going to have a party! It came as a surprise — but a nice surprise,' she said.

'It is a lovely day. The sun is shining. Life still has its interests. I have a daughter who lives very near and two sons and they all have children — so I'm kept very much up to date. That's the best thing.'

The birthday cake was made by Mike Heppell from Gunnislake who, through redundancy, swapped a career in bakery technology to be a gardener — which, previously, had been his hobby. Now he does a splendid job keeping the grounds of Venn tidy — and bakes cakes for pleasure in his spare time.

The 'special girls' decided instead of having birthday presents they would like people to make a donation to the Devon Air Ambulance. At the end of the party they had raised £200 for the charity.