At the grand age of 101, Gozo-born Salvina Formosa still does her own cooking and shopping... She even lifts weights and exercises every week. The Sydney resident is the oldest person enrolled in a community-based programme designed for elderly people who have suffered a fall or are scared of falling.

Ms Formosa turned to the State-funded Stepping On programme when she tripped on an uneven footpath – and, notwithstanding her venerable age, she can do 20 sit-to-stand exercises. 

The grandmother of two, who is a trained sewing teacher and has made at least 13 wedding dresses, wakes up at 5am every day. Before she left for Australia when she was 37, she taught dressmaking in Malta and, 64 years on, she still sews.

“I finished school at 20 and went to dressmaking school to become a sewing teacher,” she told Times of Malta. “I cook, wash and I’m quite independent. I go out three times a week with my carer, who takes me shopping and to church,” said Ms Formosa. She still plays bingo, eats pizza and prays every day.

More in Times of Malta.