A great-grandmother has been forced to stop giving yoga classes at her local leisure centre - after council officials discovered she was too old.

Yoga teacher Nena Joyce stunned town hall bosses when they discovered she was 82 years old.

The pensioner had been running classes at Swansea Leisure Centre in south Wales for the past five years.

But she has now stopped holding her twice-a-day sessions after a council audit of staff found she was too old.

Swansea Council checked the ages of all staff to find if anyone was above the retirement age of 65.

Officials were shocked to find their oldest employee was in her eighties.

Mrs Joyce, of Bishopston, Swansea, said: "They suddenly realised I was over the age limit for employees and I was honourably discharged.

'Shame'

"I only started teaching yoga at the leisure centre when I was 77, so I was already 12 years over age.

"It's a shame - yoga is for people any age. It doesn't matter how old you are. It is like a science - unlike aerobics which relies more on strength."

Mrs Joyce plans to continue teaching yoga at a local community centre.

She added: "I'm very active and the advantage that age has over youth is a wealth of experience. I'm not yet ready to give up passing on my valuable knowledge to the next generation."

A Swansea Council spokeswoman said: "We appreciate and acknowledge the work Mrs Joyce has done at the leisure centre.

"However, our general policy is that we do not employ people over 65 - when we can recruit replacements. This is so younger people get the opportunity to be employed.

"We have to comply with our policies and retire people when we are aware they are over 65."