Birthday girl Eva Copeman celebrates her 105th with a party at Edina Court in Wisbech

Alexander Graham Bell made the first long distance phone call the year she was born, but Wisbech centenarian Eva Copeman waited well over 80 years before she had a telephone in her home.

The First World War was raging and King George V was on the throne and the first building blocks of the NASA space centre were being laid, although it would be another 46 years before man went into space, when Eva entered the world on February 27 1915 in Wisbech.

Yesterday (Thursday) she celebrated her 105th birthday with her friends and fellow residents at Edina Court, where she has lived for the past two and a half years.

Women all over the world were still campaigning for the right to vote and Albert Einstein presented part of his theory of relativity in the same year Eva arrived in a world, which was at war.

Most of the inventions of that year were war related and included a prototype tank tested by the British Army, hand grenades and the use of poison gas.

Eva's youngest son Paul, from Wisbech, said: "She has vague memories of the First World War because she was so young at the time it ended, but she has vivid memories of what happened in the Second World War, and is always happy to talk to her great grandchildren about her experiences."

Eva was married to William Copeman and the couple had three children – David, Jenny and Paul. Before her marriage Eva worked at Burtons Basket factory in Oldfield Lane, until it burnt down just before the outbreak of the Second World War.

She gave up work when David was born and William, known as Bill, was posted to fight overseas in Burma - he was away for six long years before returning home to Wisbech to continue his work as a printer at local firm Balding and Mansell.

He died in 1963, leaving Eva to bring up their three children alone. She never remarried but she did return to work as a cleaner at the Isle College where she remained until she retired.

She lived most of her life in Elizabeth Terrace and was a dedicated member of the Trinity Methodist Church, where she would help out with events like the annual Rose Fair flower festival.

Paul said: “She and a team of helpers would always make the sandwiches for the Rose Fair. The last time she did it she was 100-years-old.”

He said Eva is very family orientated and likes nothing better than visits from her six grandchildren and four great grandchildren and when they cannot visit she uses new technology to FaceTime them.

“It is amazing to think there were no computers when she was born, now she loves using the iPad to look at photos and call the children. She hasn’t quite got the hang of it though as she insists on shouting at the screen rather than talking normally.”

Despite her extraordinary age Eva still has few grey hairs, and after her first ever facial on Wednesday she said her skin felt as "soft as a baby's".

Paul said: "She admitted she'd always liked the idea of a facial so the staff at Edina Court organised for her to have one as a birthday treat - she loved it."

He said his mum has never really spoken about all the inventions she has seen in her long life, and so it is hard to say which had the biggest impact for her.

But she always loved using the telephone to talk to her family, although she never had one of her own until she was in her late eighties.

"We always used to pick her up and bring to our house once a week so she could call my sister, Jenny, and older brother David, and her cousins."

Yesterday's birthday celebration included coffee with cakes and was attended by Sam Monaghan chief executive of the Methodist Homes Association, which runs Edina Court.

Paul said: "He was determined to meet her, as she is one of the oldest, if not the oldest resident in a Methodist home. Her cousins came along as did her grandchildren and great grandchildren, as well as the Wisbech mayor - to be honest she had a whale of a time."

What's the secret to Eva's long life? Well according to Paul its her diet of fish, chicken and vegetables – no fat or alcohol and very little sugar.

Paul said: “I would say it's her diet that has helped her. She is still able to get about with the help of a walker - she's pretty nifty in fact - and she loves joining in everything. But her memory is starting to go and until recently the only medication she needed was the occasional paracetamol for a headache."

She will be celebrating again this weekend with a family gathering with her three children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.