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When Mollie Bradley sold her first Avon lipsticks she was a mum with a young son trying to earn a bit of extra cash – and the Beatles were beginning to take the world by storm.

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Today she is 79 years old, her son Paul is aged 50 and the Beatles have long become history – but Mollie is still selling Avon cosmetics.

Mollie has been Avon calling for forty five years and is one of the company's longest-serving representatives.

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Avon, an American company, was introduced into the UK 50 years ago in 1959 and has become an iconic brand with the catchphrase "Ding-Dong Avon calling" becoming its signature.

At the beginning, it was seen as the very essence of American culture but soon became part of British life and the Swinging Sixties – helped by women like Mollie.

In her 45 years in the job, there have been massive changes in the world: seven different prime ministers have led the country, the internet has linked the world globally and the mobile phone has become part of life.

But Mollie's job has remained basically unchanged – except that where once she did it in hat and gloves, now she dresses more casually.

She said: "In the early days we would really dress up, especially for our monthly meetings when al the representatives got together. We would all meet at Pudsey Civic Hall, or at a hotel and discuss the latest products."

Back then, Avon would be sold at genteel gatherings as well as door to door and Mollie would give talks and make-up demonstrations to groups of lady Conservatives or members of the church-based Wives Fellowship

"I had always been interested in clothes and make-up and it just seemed like a nice way to earn a bit of extra money, it was just a little job then but it became much more important to me."

Now Mollie, who will be 80 in November, still spends about 15 hours a week working, still wears Avon make-up herself, and even still has some of her original customers from 1964. Some of her other customers were just children when Mollie originally sold cosmetics to their mums.

She said: "One lady still contacts me for a perfume called Occur. It has been her favourite for years and, a few years ago when I found out it was about to be discontinued, I bought 50 bottles so I would always have some in for her.

"Over the years lots of women have become attached to a particular perfume or a shade of lipstick and they don't like it when it stops being made, I always try to stockpile it for them when I can."

As the decades have passed, tastes in make-up and cosmetics have changed a lot.

"In the early days I sold an awful lot of talcum powder but people don't buy much of it now. These days moisturiser is really popular and so is suncream, and in make-up I sell a lot of foundation."

One product that has always been in fashion during Mollie's four decades as an Avon representative is lipstick.

"I have sold thousands of lipsticks – and I have thousands in boxes upstairs.

"Everyone around here knows me as the Avon lady. I have never beenble to leave my house looking scruffy because of that, I've always had a bit of an image to keep up.

"I still use make-up now, though not as much as I used to. But I still go round the shops checking out all the opposition brands.

"I can't imagine not doing this now, it is part of who I am. It keeps me busy, gives me a social life and keeps me young. I will just go on as long as I can."