Ivy Woolcock has packed plenty of memories into her lifetime, and there’s still no stopping her.

She has just turned 106 but the active lady still goes to church, loves walks, enjoys holidays – including travelling halfway round the world just four years ago – and chatting to friends and family.

When asked the secret of her long life, Mrs Woolcock, who lives in Gravesend, said: “I think it’s in my genes and in my blood.

"My father lived to over 100 and my mother nearly as long. But the thing is to never lose interest in life. There’s always something to think about and talk about.”

She loves travelling and four years ago went on holiday to India with her younger daughter Elizabeth, visiting the Taj Mahal. Other destination highlights have included America and Canada.

She regularly visits Elizabeth in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and elder daughter Ann in Winchester, Hampshire.

When asked which piece of modern technology she most appreciates, she said: “My talking books are a great help. I like historical novels.”

Mrs Woolcock usually goes to Christ Church in Old Road East twice a week. It’s in the same road as Orchard Cottage care home, where she lives.

Ann said her mum went into the home for respite after a fall and liked it so much she decided to stay.

Mrs Woolcock, nee Saunders, was born in Sittingbourne on March 5, 1911, the youngest of two children, and trained as a buyer at Harrods before working at John Lewis’s flagship store in London’s Oxford Street.

She married Francis Woolcock in 1938 and the couple lived in a flat in Pelham Road, Gravesend, and had their two daughters.

Mr Woolcock, who died of cancer aged 71, was a Trinity House pilot on the Thames and during the Second World War the family was moved first to Orkney and then Stranraer in Scotland before being stationed in north Africa and Italy.

Mrs Woolcock, who has two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, described her birthday last Sunday as “just one more day”. She said: “I’ve been extraordinarily lucky.

“I’ve seen and done most of the things I wanted to and I’m happy about that. I never thought I would spend a whole day at the Taj Mahal – that was one of my highlights.

“It’s been a fairly ordinary life but I’ve enjoyed it.”

When asked what advice she would share with others she said: “Things that seem very important at the time soon merge into the background and life just goes on.”