OUR town is now home to the oldest living person in the UK - 113-year-old Ethel Lang!
It follows the death of Londoner Grace Jones, also 113, which was confirmed on Thursday. There were only 171 days between the two ladies.
Super centenarian Ethel, who has lived in Barnsley all her life, was born on May 27 in 1900 in Worsbrough Dale and has seen six monarchs and 22 Prime Ministers come and go in her long life.
Ethel, the youngest daughter of miner Charles Lancaster and his wife Sarah, was born when Queen Victoria was still on the throne and the Marquess of Salisbury was Prime Minister.
In 1922 she married William Lang, a young plumber and the only son of Barnsley councillor Thomas Lang, at St Mary's Church, Barnsley.
One year later the couple celebrated the birth of their daughter, Margaret, who is now 89.
Widow Ethel lived independently until she was 105 when she moved into a Barnsley care home. Her main hobby was dancing, which she enjoyed up to turning 107.
