A care home is hoping to make an 108th birthday extra special for its oldest resident.

Rita Farmer has lived at St Edmunds Residential Care Home on Marine Parade in Gorleston for 14 years, and despite having marked well over 100 milestones still gets excited about her birthday and enjoys receiving cards and reading the messages.

Miss Farmer turns 108 on June 24 and is the home's oldest resident.

Manager Hanna Djedda said she was an intelligent woman who could speak fluent French and had a penchant for the finer things in life including gourmet foods like lobster.

On the day they were planning a special high tea and hoped the wider public could be encouraged to send her cards as a surprise, because she always loved reading them and seeing the messages, Mrs Djedda said.

"She is a very intelligent woman," she said. "She is still walking and mobile and she reads the paper every morning. She loves reading and chatting with staff."

As reported on her 100th birthday Miss Farmer was born in Tonbridge, Kent, and after gaining a place at the prestigious Tonbridge Grammar School, went on to join the Erie Electronics Company in London in 1937, where she worked as the secretary and personal assistant to the managing director.

Because the firm was of national and strategic importance it was ordered in 1944 by the war office to relocate to the coast away from the danger of enemy bombing.

Miss Farmer, the boss Mr Dyson, and most of the office staff and charge hands moved to Great Yarmouth and took over the factory of Millers the shoemakers.

She retired from Erie in 1973 and stepped down from work completely after several years of temping.

She spent some of her retirement travelling, mainly in Europe, and became fluent in French. She also worked for the blind during which she developed the skill of Braille.

After fracturing her hip in 2008 she moved to St Edmunds on the seafront, and until recent years enjoyed walks on the prom.

Cards can be posted to Rita Farmer at St Edmunds Residential Care Home, 3-5 Marine Parade, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR31 6DP.