Great Yarmouth woman celebrates 107th birthday on a motorbike

For Genna Brown, age is just a number.

“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” she said, days after celebrating her 107th birthday.

Determined to mark the milestone, her son organised a ride around her hometown of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on a specially-adapted motorcycle with the Suffolk-based Wish List Bikers charity.

Mrs Brown, who puts her longevity down to having a “sense of humour”, described the trip as “lovely”.

Mrs Brown, whose full first name is Gwenevere, is the 80th-oldest person in the United Kingdom and second-oldest in Norfolk, according to the website Oldest in Britain.

Charity trustee Ken Moore took her on a specialist Rewaco trike from her home in Great Yarmouth to nearby Caister-on-Sea, then back along the seafront and over the Herring Bridge.

Mrs Brown was a guest of honour at the bridge’s opening in February 2024.

She was a schoolgirl when the town’s Haven Bridge opened in 1933.

“She was a real character and a lovely lady,” said Mr Moore.

Now a grandmother, she was born in Barking, east London, towards the end of World War One in 1918.

Her mother died when she was one and she moved to Norfolk to live with her aunt, who adopted her.

She met her husband when she was “15 or 16” but they were separated when World War Two began.

He was sent to Burma while she survived German bombings, before moving to work on the land near Downham Market.

Mrs Brown lived on a houseboat until the war ended and the family reunited.

She has continued to live in Norfolk ever since.

Her son, Pete Brown, organised her motorcycle ride.

“She likes doing different things, to get out and feel the fresh air, so this was perfect,” he said.

Mr Moore said she loved the hour-and-a-half ride.

“The only thing that annoyed her was having to wear a helmet as she wanted to feel the wind in her hair,” he said.