U.K.: Still Ploughing, Flying High Aged 90

SHIPSTON, Gloucestershire (Cotswold Journal), January 11, 2008: Shipston man Bill Davies is still ploughing ahead and flying high at the age of 90. Bill, of Manor Lane, celebrated his birthday with a gathering of almost 170 family and friends at the Townsend Hall, Shipston, last Saturday, an event he has been organising every five years since he was 70. "I first did it when I was 70 and I thought that would be the end of that," said Bill, who, at 78, was one of the oldest people in the country to gain a pilot's licence. He also takes part in vintage tractor ploughing matches and still wins prizes, though he said: "I get a prize occasionally when the best men aren't there." Bill, who was born on New Year's Day 1918 in the George Hotel in Shipston, which was then owned by his grandfather, said: "I get very out of breath when I do anything physical nowadays but I have always wanted to do something and to achieve something. "I still have a competitive spirit and I don't believe in retirement." Bill, who ran a plant hire and sales business in Shipston, was also a keen amateur motorbike racer, who won his first race on grass in Yorkshire when he was 15 and his last race before retiring at the age of 65. "I raced motorbikes for 50 years and I got a stake through me in 1962 and was in hospital for five days. Since I've had vintage tractors I've spent weeks and weeks in hospital," he said. His worse accident happened a few years ago when one of his tractors started up accidentally, crushing him against another tractor, requiring doctors to rebuild his damaged leg. But daughter Jennie Hitchman from Longborough reckons her father is indefatigable. "Last October he had a new hip and he was out flying six weeks ago," said Mrs Hitchman. "At a recent major ploughing match he did a lap of honour and got a standing ovation," she added. Among those helping widower Bill celebrate his birthday, were his three daughters Judy, 67, Jenny, 64, and Jane, 63, plus his eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. © Copyright 2001-2008 Newsquest Media Group