Great-great-grandmother who visits favourite pub each week celebrates 102nd birthday

Olive Yarsley has been living at Maywood, an Extra Care scheme in Wombourne run by the Wrekin Housing Group for nine years.

She spent her special day there surrounded by her large family.

Born off King Street in Dudley in 1922, Olive grew up with her younger sister and two cousins her mother adopted after her aunt died.

She has spent her whole life living and working in and around the area and has happy memories of her time at Sir Claughton School in Dudley, which closed in 1990

Olive says her secret to a long life is her good genes. She also keeps an active social life with the help of her family and visits her favourite pub in the nearby village of Bobbington every week.

When the second world war began Olive, like many women, were recruited by local munitions factories.

She said: “We used to make the shell casings that went on the end of the bomb. They were brass but very heavy. They had to be smooth so my job was to polish them up. I remember we all had a big knees-up when the war ended. All the streets did on D-Day.”

It was whilst working in the factory that she met her husband, Baden. The couple got married in 1943 and had their first daughter, Vicky, in 1944. But Baden was posted to India before she was born. Vicky was three years old when he was finally able to return home.

The couple went on to have two more children, five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Olive welcomed her first great-great grandson last year.

Asked what her favourite decade has been, Olive said the 1940’s.

She said: “My husband made a car with a soft top roof. I would help him with the sewing. We had some fun driving around everywhere. Those were the best years.”

Stephanie Warner, the service manager at Maywood said: " At 102, Olive still enjoys an incredibly independent life, needing just two short care visits from our team a day. We will always be on hand to help wherever we can. We are here to make sure all our residents can live as independently as possible and have a fulfilling life.”