AN ASTONISHING lady who celebrated her 110th birthday at the weekend has said she “doesn’t feel any different from when I was 109”.

Ethel Wood is one of a handful of people still alive who can call themselves Victorian, born as she was six days before the death of Britain’s longest reigning monarch.

“Everything has changed, so much, all the time, but nothing in particular. Things are changing every day,” said Ethel.

“I live every day one day at a time. I don’t worry about it and just manage today, that’s all you can do.”

Miss Wood moved to Clacton 50 years ago and lived in Valley Road for a while, before moving to Kirby-le-Soken.

The former primary school teacher still has plenty of childhood memories from Guernsey, where she was born and grew up.

“I remember we had our own boat, our father had a brigantine called Restless in which he shipped granite mined in Guernsey to Britain."

Read more about Ethel's amazing life in this week's Gazette.