ONE of Bolton’s oldest residents has died at the grand old age of 107.

Lily Russell put her longevity down to avoiding most fruit and vegetables and rarely exercising — except for ballroom dancing.

The great-great grandmother died at Royal Bolton Hospital on Saturday following a short illness. She was born in 1905 in Farnworth, had four sisters and three brothers and attended Farnworth School.

Mrs Russell spent most of her life in Bolton but lived in Birmingham and Wales when she was younger.

Kelly Blears, her great-granddaughter, said: “I think it was a bit of luck that helped her to live until she was 107. She has always been a very strong woman.

“I think secretly she was pleased to have got past 100 but she would say ‘this is ridiculous’ about how old she was getting. She would say ‘it’s time I was gone’.

“She had never been a drinker and she didn’t really like vegetables. She hardly had any wrinkles.

“She used to love dancing and playing bingo.”

Mrs Russell’s family also believe her longevity was down to the care she received at Withins Residential Home in Breightmet as staff treated her like a family member.

She moved there in 2003 after previously living independently.

She worked into her 70s including spells in a timber yard and a cotton mill. She was married to Joe Street, had three children, Joyce, aged 84 and two sons Jim and George, who predeceased her, two grandchildren Miss Blears and Thomas Speak, and Joshua Murgatroyd, her six-year-old great-great-grandson.

For information on her funeral, call Unsworth’s Funeral Services on 01204 886161.