108-year-old attributes long life to Champagne and chocolate

108-year-old Yorkshire care home resident Dorothy Flowers has attributed her long life to Champagne, chocolate buttons and following horse racing.

Flowers enjoying a glass of fizz. Image: Facebook – Bupa UK (Southlands Care Home)

The Champagne-loving centenarian celebrated her birthday last week, receiving 670 cards after Bupa’s Southlands Care Home posted an appeal on social media asking for people to send Flowers a birthday message.

Speaking to Yahoo Style UK, resident manager, Helene Ballinger, said the “real secret” to Flowers’ longevity “has to be Champagne”.

“It’s the only thing we ever see her finish a glass of,” she said.

Ballinger also told the news site that Flowers has her own drawer, “which we keep full of chocolate buttons”.

A keen horse racing enthusiast, Flowers once worked for the betting control board colloquially known as The Tote.

She was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, on 22 October 1911. According to the Southlands Care Home, she is the oldest woman in Harrogate and the 68th oldest person in Great Britain.

After attracting considerable media attention, Flowers had a full week of birthday celebrations. She was visited by the Harrogate Advertiser, Harrogate Grammar School, Radio York, local company Party Fever, Stray FM, Harrogate Borough Council, BBC Look North and Killinghall Primary School.

In a Facebook post, Southlands confirmed that there had indeed been plenty of Champagne, birthday cake and music, courtesy of “Alan the accordionist” – all contributing to Flowers being “still up long past her usual bedtime”.

Leave your reply

Most Recent Stories

Oxeye chef joins Monica Galetti's Mere

Sven-Hanson Britt, the chef and founder of the recently-closed Oxeye, has been announced as the new head chef of Monica Galetti's Mere in Fitzrovia.

WLC Eats: Restaurant Andrew Fairlie

Douglas Blyde pays a visit to the late chef Andrew Fairlie's eponymous restaurant, "set deep within the palace that is Gleneagles". While there, he delves into the differing mark-ups on the wine list, and sees if the "big classic" main on the menu lives up to its big reputation.

Snoop Dogg visits Conor McGregor's Dublin pub

Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., better known as the rapper Snoop Dogg, received a rapturous reception at The Black Forge Inn, the Dublin pub owned by mixed martial artist Conor McGregor.

Police called over SG$938 chilli crab charge

A group of Japanese tourists dining at a restaurant in Singapore were so horrified to discover that they had been charged SG$938 (£562) for their order of chilli crab that they called the police.

Oktoberfest waitress carrying more than a dozen beers goes viral

A video of a waitress in Munich has gone viral on TikTok after it showed her carrying more than a dozen steins of beer at the same time.

Most Recent Stories

Oxeye chef joins Monica Galetti's Mere

Sven-Hanson Britt, the chef and founder of the recently-closed Oxeye, has been announced as the new head chef of Monica Galetti's Mere in Fitzrovia.

WLC Eats: Restaurant Andrew Fairlie

Douglas Blyde pays a visit to the late chef Andrew Fairlie's eponymous restaurant, "set deep within the palace that is Gleneagles". While there, he delves into the differing mark-ups on the wine list, and sees if the "big classic" main on the menu lives up to its big reputation.

Snoop Dogg visits Conor McGregor's Dublin pub

Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., better known as the rapper Snoop Dogg, received a rapturous reception at The Black Forge Inn, the Dublin pub owned by mixed martial artist Conor McGregor.

Police called over SG$938 chilli crab charge

A group of Japanese tourists dining at a restaurant in Singapore were so horrified to discover that they had been charged SG$938 (£562) for their order of chilli crab that they called the police.

Oktoberfest waitress carrying more than a dozen beers goes viral

A video of a waitress in Munich has gone viral on TikTok after it showed her carrying more than a dozen steins of beer at the same time.