Service with a smile from 91-year-old Gladys

She is still working six days a week running a pet shop in Rawmarsh.

And the hard-working nonagenarian has no plans to put her feet up - despite turning 91 on Friday.

Gladys runs Walkers Pet Shop, which she started with her late husband Keith, carrying on after he passed away in 1970 after 19 years of marriage.

She will have been running the popular shop on Kilnhurst Road for 52 years in November.

She said: “People come to the shop who I have known from school.

“I know nearly everybody who comes here, and have done for years and years.

“Why do I carry on? Because I want to.”

Gladys, who will be celebrating her birthday with family, said that things had changed a lot along Kilnhurst Road over the last half a century, as well as in the shop itself.

She said: “It’s gone quieter. There were more shops on the street in the past.”

Away from running the shop, Gladys still finds time to be a dedicated member of Swinton Townswomen’s Guild and Ryecroft Methodist Church Ladies Guild.

Born and brought up in Rawmarsh and a pupil at schools in the area, she has also travelled widely, from the United States to Italy and Spain, and has two sons - Keith and Simon - as well as three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Son Keith said that the family did not tend to raise the subject of retirement to “strong-willed” Gladys, adding: “She tells you to shut your face.”