A great-great-aunt who celebrated her 104th birthday this month believes her love of Italian food has been the secret to a long life.

Yolanda Redding, who lives in Margate, says her mum’s home-cooked continental classics helped her reach the incredible milestone.

But speaking from Claremont Care Home in Lower Northdown Ave, Ms Redding, one of the oldest people in Kent, revealed she is still partial to the odd bag of chips.

Recalling her mum’s deft touch all those decades ago, she said: “It was just good cooking.

“It wasn’t greasy and it was mostly Italian food – spaghetti, minestrone.

“My mum was a proper English cook but she cooked all the foreign food - I love Italian food.”

With fresh ingredients high in antioxidants and fibre, alongside plenty of vegetables, Italian cuisine tends to be minimally processed.

Indeed, the average life expectancy in Italy, where Yolanda’s father hails from, is almost 84, two years more than in the UK.

Known to many as Lulu or Landi, she lived and grew up in Lambeth where her family’s flat overlooked the Houses of Parliament with her dad Michele and English mum Violet – along with two brothers and one sister, Maria, Nina and John.

When her mum asked her for the time, Yolanda would run over to the window and look at Big Ben.

Her brothers would take her ice skating across London and she continued to do this as she aged.

She even took her skates with her when she boarded the train from London to start her five years of service in the army as a typist, which she greatly enjoyed.

After the Second World War, she spent the rest of her working life at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The widow was married to her husband Joe for 40 years before he died in 1993.

Her dad was a head waiter at a restaurant, so Yolanda and her siblings would stay awake as he would bring home leftovers.

“If the restaurant had things on, he didn’t come home until 11.30pm,” she added.

“We’d be in bed listening as he used to bring home any food left over and we always knew something was coming home, so we’d stay awake to see what we could get our hands on.”

But Yolanda also confesses she enjoys a bag of chips still to this day.

The centenarian lived independently in Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe, until she was 100 before she moved down to Margate to be closer to her family in east Kent.

The youngest member of the family, 12-year-old Arabella, looks up to her great-great-aunt, visiting her often and sharing similar mannerisms.

They also share a passion for horses and ice skating – a regular topic of conversation for them both.

Yolanda did not have children but was always described as a second mum to her nephews, Paul in particular.

When she reached 100, Yolanda received a card from the late Queen.

“I didn’t jump for joy but it was nice for her to think of me,” she joked.

“I love cards.”

Her family says there have been several times when Lulu has been very unwell and not expected to survive the infections.

But with her “extreme strength and positive attitude to enjoy every second of life”, she always pulls through and bounces back – to the astonishment of the doctors and care home staff.