Woman who celebrated her 108th birthday shares the secret to a long life

Ada, who has lived in Codnor Park Care Home, in Codnor, Derbyshire since 2015, said the secret to longevity is choosing to have dogs instead of children and to “keep going”.

Ada was the proud owner of “a lot of greyhounds” when she was younger, and joked her preference for animals has helped her reach the grand age of 108.

In terms of how she “keeps going”, Ada enjoys playing board games, and dominoes are her favourite.

Unfortunately, Ada, “hasn’t got a lot of family left” and didn’t “have any children”, so has no grandchildren to celebrate her birthday with, Kelly Goucher, activity coordinator at Ashmere told the BBC.

But the care home she lives in “wanted to get her as many [birthday] cards as possible”, and Kelly said Ada “quite likes the fact that people know about her because of her age”.

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As a result, Kelly launched an appeal on her local Facebook group asking for “108 [birthday] cards for 108 years” to be sent to Ada.

“I woke up to 135 messages the following morning of people wanting to send cards,” Kelly remarked.

That number then grew to over 300 people wanting to send Ada their well wishes.

The care home also received “lots of donations” with some giving “banners with her picture on and balloons with her name on” to celebrate the big day.

But to make her birthday extra special, she received a card from the King and Queen, which read: “My wife and I are so pleased to know that you are celebrating your one hundred and eighth birthday. This brings our warmest congratulations and heartfelt good wishes on such a special occasion.”

When asked what she made of all the birthday fuss, Ada said it made her very “happy”.

“To soldier on for 108 years, you’ve got to be smiling, haven’t you?” She was asked, to which she agreed: “Yes. Course you have!”

According to the website Oldest in Britain, Ada is the 65th-oldest person in the UK.