A YOGHURT a day, plenty of fish and good, home-cooked meals are the best ingredients for a long and healthy life, say these 91-year-old twins.

Winifred Witts and Marjorie Gilbert, of Pontnewydd, Cwmbran, (pictured) say a healthy diet has helped them live long and kept them sprightly in their old age.

These days, however, they sometimes let others do the cooking. Once a week they join up to 30 other elderly people for a three-course meal cooked by youngsters at a nearby luncheon club.

Volunteers from the Cwmbran Centre for Young People (CCYP) are taking weekly cookery and catering classes and cooking up a treat for the twins and others at Mount Pleasant Hall, Pontnewydd.

Winifred said: "We have really enjoyed their meals - it saves me having to cook anyway! They do a very good job. There are not many young ones who can cook these days are there?"

The project is part of Torfaen council's healthy living initiative. It aims to improve the health and well-being of people in the borough.

Co-ordinator Nicola Bowen said: "People who attend have been impressed with the professionalism of the young people and their enthusiasm in supporting older members of the community. The food is pretty good too!"

During the weekly sessions, young people learn how to shop on a budget, how to make healthy choices, and how to produce simple, cheap and nutritious meals.

Then they put the training into practice and cook healthy homemade three-course meals for only £2.50 a person.

The sisters each have four children. Marjorie has eight grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren and Winifred has nine grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

They were born in Griffithstown, Pontypool, and now live two doors apart in Pontnewydd.

Winifred said they enjoy eating healthily.

"We enjoy proper cooked meals. I don't like these ready meals. We like eating the food we grew up with. I do the cooking and Marjorie washes up.

"We have a lot of fish and a yoghurt every day. They are meant to be good for you and we like them."