'I'm 106, I've never chased men - and this is what I've learned about life'

The First World War was still being fought when Mary Spiers was born in August 1918. And she was a teenager as the Second World War raged across the globe.

She had a boyfriend who served in the RAF and who she met during the conflict, however, he died shortly afterwards. Mary never married, spending almost all her life living with her two sisters, whose boyfriends died in the war and who also never got wed.

As she turns 106, says the secret to her long life is her sense of humour. And that she 'hasn't chased men.'

She and her siblings spent decades living in the same house in Handforth, just over the border in Cheshire, where Mary was still living independently until just over a month ago.

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Asked what she puts her long life down to, she said: "I don't drink, I don't smoke and I don't chase men! You just get up and get on with the day. You just live every day, every minute and you don't realise it's piling up. I've got a sense of humour, and it gets you through some difficult times. It's not been all happy. It's been sad in lots of ways."

Mary, who has now moved into the Bowerfield House care home in Disley, near Stockport, this week received a card from King Charles and Queen Camilla.

It is her third royal card, having received one from the late Quen Elizabeth when she turned 100 in 2018 and another from King Charles last year to mark her 105^th birthday.

She has also had scores of others after an appeal by the home for strangers to send in cards for huge Manchester City fan Mary.

They hoped to get 106 for her to open on her birthday today (Sunday, August 18) but they estimate they have had over 250, after the appeal was shared