STOURBRIDGE'S salsa gran Paddy Jones has vowed to keep on dancing for as long as she can after wowing the nation with her dynamic performances on TV's Britain's Got Talent.

Paddy, aged 79, who made it to the final of the top ITV1 talent show, was dubbed a "true inspiration" by judge Simon Cowell after her racy salsa performance with dance partner Nicko Espinosa, who is 40 years her junior, on last Saturday's live show.

Judge and mentor Amanda Holden, who had championed Paddy and Nicko since the audition stage of the competition, told Paddy she was "so proud" of her for battling through a rib injury, sustained during rehearsals, to perform in both the semi-final and the final.

And this week the gutsy great gran, who came ninth overall in the competition, vowed to carry on shimmying around dance-floors for as long as she is able.

She told the News: "We're going to be carrying on for a bit.

"I'm feeling better. If people want us to go to some of these congresses I've said to Nicko we can go.

"We've had a great time. I'm glad everybody has enjoyed it - just sorry if we upset people because we didn't come out on top but we did our best."

Paddy, who used to run Paddy's Fabrics in Victoria Passage, was given a standing ovation by the judges on the popular TV talent show.

Alesha Dixon described her as "incredible" while David Walliams dubbed Paddy and Nicko the "act people have really been talking about".

The pair had been tipped as early favourites to win the competition but had to settle for a place in the top ten in the face of stiff opposition from a diverse array of talented acts.

Singers Collabro were voted overall winners and Paddy, who turns 80 next month, said of their success: "I'm glad those boys won. They're ordinary lads but oh boy can they sing."

Plucky Paddy took up salsa dancing after losing her husband David to leukaemia.

Having moved to Spain, just 18 months earlier - she decided against returning to her home town after David's death and instead started salsa classes at Nicko's dance academy - where before long their unlikely dance floor partnership was formed.

Before taking the nation by storm on Britain's Got Talent - they'd already won the Spanish version of the show Tu Si Que Vales and appeared on Argentina's version of Strictly Come Dancing 'Showmatch' and countless other TV shows.

Paddy has also been referenced in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest female acrobatic salsa dancer in the world.

The great grandmother-of-seven said since Saturday's final she and Nicko have already received numerous invites to perform internationally - including a call from the maker's of India's Got Talent who want them to perform in Mumbai.

But after the drama and excitement of the last few weeks she confessed she was quietly "hoping to get back to normality".