A great-grandmother from Sudbury is celebrating her 101st birthday today.

Mary Wilson, from Sudbury has three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Mrs Wilson is originally from London. She first came to East Anglia when she was evacuated to Cambridge during the Second World War.

Mrs Wilson's Daughter Sarah Hawker spoke about her mother's life and said: "She was born in London and spent and spent most of her childhood in Highgate.

"She worked as a Lady Almoner at Great Ormond Street Hospital"

"She got married in 1945 to my father, who sadly died 21 years ago, she then moved to near Cambridge in the 1970s.

"She moved to Sudbury in 1984 and she is now really a Suffolk girl.

"She is absolutely brilliant and she is hardly ever been ill which is great."

When asked what is the secret to such a long life Mrs Wilson said she thinks it is in her genes.

She added: "I was the youngest of four, my sister was 96 when she died and my brother was 94 and the other was 85.

"My parents both died when they were 70. Also, before the war it was a very different life from now, we had good food and plenty of exercise."

As Mrs Wilson turned 100 last year the country was in a national lockdown, so she could not celebrate her big day properly. But Mrs Hawker used the power of technology to reunite her mum with relatives all over the world.

Mrs Hawker added: "We were all bitterly disappointed because we spent six months building up to it and then a couple of weeks before her birthday we were locked down."

"She had her card from the Queen and I was there with her, but we actually did an enormous Zoom party with relatives all over the world from New York, Germany and Switzerland which was really fun.

"We had planned a big family party, but we obviously couldn't have that. We did manage to have an immediate family lunch in July when things were a bit more relaxed, but yes she was disappointed.

"This year it is going to be a quieter day but one of my brothers is coming over and my daughter and grandson are going to be having a socially distanced tea outside if it is not too cold. So we will try and make up for the missed party last year."