INDEPENDENT 101-year-old Olive Oxley celebrated her birthday yesterday surrounded by friends.

She welcomed a stream of callers to her home in Sherburn Village, near Durham City, and the telephone never stopped ringing.

"I have had a wonderful birthday. All my friends have been marvellous," said the former housekeeper.

"I didn't know I had so many friends. It is lovely and it warms the heart.

"My room is full of flowers. I have not really had presents - my friends know that coming to see me is the only present I want. I'm too old for presents."

Mrs Oxley still makes her own meals and does her own housework. She says she is in good health and is not on any medication.

She says she loves living independently and hopes to continue doing so as long as she can.

"I am a very fortunate woman. I have led a quiet life but I have enjoyed every moment of it. It has been wonderful.

"I have an awful lot to be grateful for. Money is not everything. I have always been grateful for what I had and I have managed with what I have had."

Mrs Oxley was born in Langley Moor and spent more than 20 years working as a housekeeper for a local family, moving with them to the South. She stayed with them until she was 55 when she returned to Durham.

At the age 57, she met and married the late Harry Oxley who had two sons, Brian and Harry.

Brian, who lives near Bristol, said: "My stepmother has all her faculties, looks after herself and I think she is a marvel."