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Silver surfer: Ivy's on internet at 102
A great-grandmother from Yorkshire is believed to be the oldest member of the social networking internet site Facebook at the age of 102.
Ivy Bean has only been using the website for a few days but already has a number of friends and has received messages from across the world.
The silver surfer had never even used a keyboard until staff at Hillside Manor residential home in Bradford, where she lives, introduced her to the internet recently.
"I didn't know how to use a computer before this week. Things change. You just have to keep on going," said Mrs Bean.
The pensioner, who lived independently until she was 92, won a gold medal yesterday at an Over 75 Olympics which featured hoop throwing and walking frame races at her home.
Mrs Bean's daughter, Sandra Logan, of Bradford, said: "My mum never ceases to amaze me, whatever she does. I am amazed. She is having a second youth. As far as we know, my mum is the oldest person on Facebook. Before her, the oldest person was 97."
The 60-year-old former security guard added: "When my mum was about 80 she used to go cleaning and shopping for someone she called an 'old lady' – who was younger than her.
"My mum has done so well on her own. She must have been getting on for 80 when she stopped working."
Mrs Bean started working in a Bradford mill when she was 14 and later went on to work for Lord and Lady Guinness in Northampton, where she washed dishes. Her late husband, Harold, worked as a cook and butler.
Her daughter said: "My mum always used to say to me: 'If you work hard, you stay young.'"
Mrs Bean is the oldest of four residents who have been using the internet at Hillside Manor.
The home's manager, Patricia Wright, said: "Ivy gets the concept. The only thing she can not get is that all these people are sending her photographs and she asks why they are sending them."
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Friday 10 February 2012
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