MALVERN'S newest centenarian will celebrate his 100th birthday with friends from around the UK and abroad today (Friday).

Reg Weedon is well known in Malvern for his many years as a hotelier and the founder of several societies and clubs.

Today, friends from as far afield as Hong Kong are due to descend on Malvern to congratulate him.

Mr Weedon was born in Caterham and, after a brief sojourn with accountancy and acting in London, moved to Malvern at the end of the Second World War.

Here he bought the Aldwyn Tower Hotel and ran it for some 30 years. He now lives on Worcester Road, still nimble in mind and body despite his advancing years.

The Malvern he moved to in the 1940s was very different to today, he recalled.

"It was just a rather large village. There was nothing going on at all until RRE (now QinetiQ) came and of course that brought a lot of trade," he said.

"The happiest part of my life was in Malvern, where I met so many interesting people."

His time in Malvern has been interspersed with travel around the world, with Hong Kong riding particularly high in his estimations.

His affinity with the theatre has also remained. A member of the Malvern Theatre Association and Malvern Light Opera Society, he visited the theatre well into his late 90s and still talks with fondness of his time on the stage.

"I've had a good life, a happy life and the greatest reward I have is in the number of good friends," Mr Weedon said.