A World War Two veteran has celebrated her 105th birthday with friends, family and visitors from the RAF.
Ivy Meenan, who was born in Wolstanton, Staffordshire, served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) – the women’s branch of the British Army – during the conflict, joining when she was 20 years old.
She was based in Cornwall, where she worked as a range finder with an anti-aircraft gun unit, helping to target enemy bombers.
More than 80 years later, she marked her special birthday on Monday with a party at Wilson Keys retirement home in Rugeley, where she is a resident.
Asked what her secret to old age was, she told BBC Midlands Today: “It’s a mystery to me – living a good life and a happy marriage.”
She added: “I tell you what I do a lot of…. sleeping. When I sit here by myself, I doze off.”
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