90-year-old celebrates birthday with bucket list ride

Anita Wood reached the milestone on October 29, and celebrated with a party at The Albion Inn in Verwood.

But, with the help of the manager at the pub, she was able to make an entrance to the celebration on a Harley Davidson, something she has always wanted to do.

She said: “It was fantastic. They’re very powerful machines, my goodness.

“I asked the guy who was driving it, can you slow down a little bit? When he revved it up, it was like a force. He said, no, this is as slow as you can get.

“That was one of the things to tick off my list of things to do before I pop off.”

Anita said the celebration was ‘lovely’ and said how the pub had helped it come about.

She had been discussing her list when one of the staff who runs the pub said they knew someone who could take Anita to the celebration.

“All of a sudden, he came back and said one of them has been ticked off, I have a friend with a Harley Davidson, and he said he’s quite happy to come and pick you up and take you down there for the entrance,” she said.

“It was a wonderful entrance. I was showing off really.”

Anita was born in 1933 as the middle of three children, with her sister, Mary, currently living in the United States.

She met her husband, Fred, aged 15, before 64 years of marriage until he died of dementia, and she has two children, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

She worked as a nurse, working in accident and emergency for 17 years.

To continue her birthday celebrations, the family hired a house on the Southbourne clifftop for two days where they stayed, along with her son’s dog.

Anita now only has one thing left on her bucket list – to visit the Great Wall of China, although she said this was looking unlikely as ‘I can only just walk up the road now.’ She said of her birthday celebrations: “I’ve had a wonderful time.”