ONE of East Lancashire oldest residents has died peacefully in her sleep aged 104.

Great-grandmother Jessie Graham had lived in Oaklands Nursing Home, Briercliffe, after moving in just a few months before her 101st birthday.

She previously lived in Briercliffe Road, Harle Syke, for 70 years .

Born in Burnley, she was a member of the Parkinsons Pills firm family. Brought up in Nelson and Roughlee, Mrs Graham went to school in Barrowford.

She worked in a weaving mill, at the Victory V factory in Nelson, at Atkinson's Laundry, as a cleaner at Burnley General Hospital and at the Lucas factory.

She was married to Harold in 1918. They had three children and lived in Brierfield and Ireland before returning to Harle Syke, where they had a shop making boots and repairing shoes.

Harold died shortly after they celebrated their golden wedding, but Mrs Graham continued to live in the same house, next door to her daughter, Nora.

Kathleen Spencer, matron at Oaklands Nursing Home, said: "She was a very lively person and quite a character who liked a laugh and a joke.

"She was very family-orientated and her daughter and grandson would come to visit her nearly every day"

The funeral was taking place today, with a service at St James' Church, Briercliffe, before cremation at Burnley Crematorium.