9:30am Monday 6th September 2010
A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER who turned 100 yesterday says the secret behind her long life is chocolate.
Gladys Ketley was born in Bearpark, County Durham, on September 5, 1910, and moved to Shildon a few years later, where she lived in the same terraced house, at Henry Street, for 75 years.
Mrs Ketley was the eldest of five siblings, and spent her life caring for her family, which comprised her husband, Billy, their children, Don and Joan, five grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.
For many years, Mrs Ketley, kept daily cuttings of Middlesbrough FC news reported in The Northern Echo, to send in a weekly package to her Boro fan grandson, David Harmby, when he moved 250-miles away from the North-East.
Mrs Ketley moved into sheltered accommodation at Plevna Mews, in Shildon, in the early Eighties after Mr Ketley died, where she is thought to be the oldest resident.
Mr Harmby said his grandmother attributes her longevity to a love of chocolate.
He added: "She is a real fighter and has come through everything in her life with great dignity.
"All of the family, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, love her very much."
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