MANY people who live to an impressive age say that the elixir of life is a small tot of sherry everyday, while others say it is regular exercise.But for one 100-year-old from Kirby Cane it could all be down to ice cream.

MANY people who live to an impressive age say that the elixir of life is a small tot of sherry everyday, while others say it is regular exercise.

But for one 100-year-old from Kirby Cane it could all be down to ice cream.

Lily Scruton, who has reached her centenary year, has eaten Parravani's ice cream roughly three times a week for most of her life.

And after celebrating the incredible landmark with 41 guests at the Waveney House Hotel in Beccles, she was given another treat when one of the men behind her favourite ice cream paid her a visit.

Dominic Parravani, who runs the business with other members of the family, visited Lily at her home in Kirby Cane to give her a vanilla ice cream, her favourite flavour.

He also promised her that she would never have to pay for another ice cream again.

“I've eaten it all my life- I was practically brought up on it!” said Lily, who is the oldest resident of Kirby Cane. “I've never tried anything else, and I wouldn't want to try it. I'm never without it! I've got some in the freezer now.”

Lily was photographed at the age of 17 enjoying a Parravani's ice cream in Kirby Cane. The picture has Augie Parravani, Dominic's great uncle, in the back ground with his ice cream cart.

Over the years the cart has become a van, but Lily still goes out to buy her ice cream when the Parravani family are doing the rounds in her village.

“We still do the same rounds that we did 112 years ago,” said Dominic Parravani. “It's still very much the same ice cream- the same recipe, the same way of making it.

“We've got a tremendous loyal following in this part of the world. It's fantastic, it makes you a bit humble. If you eat Parravani's ice cream you get to live to 100!”

The Parravani's ice cream business was started in 1898 by Giuseppe Parravani in Norwich, who came to England as a teenager after his mother died. The business moved to Bungay in 1909 and has stayed in the area ever since.

Lily shrugged off the importance of reaching her 100th birthday. “I don't feel any different!” she said. “I don't know what all the fuss is about. I can still work. I do the washing up, I dust one handed, holding on to the frame. I don't sit down too long!”

At her luncheon at the Waveney House Hotel they served Parravani's ice cream for desert. Lily said they all had a marvellous time.

Lily was born in Kirby Row on October 7 1909, and has lived in the area for most of her life. She lived in Egham for some time during the second world war, working in nearby Weybridge helping to assemble aeroplanes, however she returned to Kirby Cane after the war where she married her late husband Bill Scruton.