A lifelong Catholic who is Norwich born and bred is celebrating her 100th birthday thanks to an unusual combination of food and drink.

Joan Marshall, who still lives in the city, will mark her special occasion at a family party.

Her daughter, Jane Futter, 71, from Middleton Street in Wymondham, said the family joked the secret to the centenarian's long life was whisky, vinegar and crisps.

Mrs Marshall, née Stamp, was born on March 12 at the family home on Portland Street.

She worked at Leveridges wholesalers on Timber Hill as a teenager where she met her future husband Raymond Marshall, who died in 1987.

The couple married at St John the Baptist Cathedral, where she regularly went to mass, in 1942 and had a son and three girls.

Mrs Futter said: 'She is a determined lady. She doesn't let things get her down. She is very resilient. She cannot believe she has got to 100.'