'Music is the secret to reaching 105'
A 105-year-old has said singing has kept her feeling young and that she still has ambitions of performing a concert in her care home in Crewe.
Ivy Hart has been heavily critical of some of the entertainers brought in by staff at Belong Crewe.
After a lifetime of singing in choirs, concerts and churches, Mrs Hart said she could give the professionals a run for their money.
"No they weren't good," she said. "I very nearly put my name down. I would have done it any time."
"Take life as it comes," is her advice to the younger generation. "Do the best you can with it."
Born in Crewe, Mrs Hart went to Bedford Street School where she said she was often brought to the front of the class to sing.
Despite her father dying when she was four, she said her mother always ensured she had money to pay for singing lessons.
"My mother could sing but she's not like me - forthcoming," Mrs Hart chuckled.
She met her husband, George, at a dance hall in Crewe in her mid-20s.
"He was absolutely lovely," her niece Pam said. "They were like a mum and dad to me."
He worked for the RAF at Crewe Municipal Buildings and the pair later moved to Preston, but he died a few years later.
Singing continued to be a passion for Mrs Hart, which continued right through her life, including performing alongside the Rochdale Band at Nantwich Civic Hall in 1976.
She returned to Crewe in her 50s and became a teacher at a school for boys with learning difficulties.
"I loved them to bits, those boys," she remembered. "I was very sorry when I had to retire."
Mrs Hart lived independently until the age of 104, when she moved into Belong Crewe.
"She's definitely a character," said carer worker Emma Spurrier. "I think everyone should have a bit of Ivy in their life."
