A GREAT grandmother fulfilled a life-long wish to ride a motorbike as part of her 100th birthday celebrations.

Joy Allen, a resident at Rowan Lodge care home, in Newnham, got the chance to get on the back of a motorbike on Sunday, October 1 and enjoy a ride around the area.

Joy, a grandmother to six and great-grandmother of 14 said: "I have always wanted to ride a motorbike, but I never got the chance, until now.”

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Staff at the care home had arranged for the Fukarwe Club, a Basingstoke-based motorcycle club, to visit and take Joy out on a drive.

A home spokesperson said: “Joy had an incredible smile on her face during the whole experience, her family, friends and the motorbike crew made her day truly special.”

Basingstoke Gazette: Joy, who turned 100 on Tuesday, October 3, was born in Bebbington, Cheshire and attended The Queen’s School Chester, going on to become a science and needlework teacher.

She met her husband Christopher on the ferry to work in 1943, he tapped her on the shoulder, and they started talking.

The pair spent the next 10 days together before he left to fight in the Second World War, returning two years later with a sapphire ring and nylons.

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Joy and Christopher married in June 1946 and had three daughters together.

The couple later moved to Malta and Joy set up cookery classes for young ladies, saying: “This was the best job I ever had”.

When asked what her secret for a long and happy life is, Joy said: “To have lots of fun and games”.