TWO lumps of sugar in her tea every day keeps this 103-year-old sweet.

Great-grandmother Olive Bates’ sweet tooth is well known among staff at St Catherine’s Nursing and Residential Home where she lives in Shipton-by-Beningbrough, near York.

And to live up to her reputation, Baildon-born Olive celebrated her 103rd birthday on Tuesday with a Malteser cake and a glass of brandy.

Jackie Calpin, the home manager, said: "She’s a lovely lady, very independent. She still loves bourbon biscuits and Maltesers. She’s a well-loved and respected lady."

Olive worked as a secretary in Guiseley in her first and only full-time job and married her late husband, Clem, in 1937.

The couple had two children, Joyce and Brian, and moved around Yorkshire before settling in Knaresborough during the 1970s. Her husband died in 1981.

Ms Calpin said Olive used to go dancing at Bradford Grammar School with a group of close friends, and credits her old age to her love of dancing. She also had a love of car and motorbikes, and the couple enjoyed travelling to warmer climates when possible.