VIDEO WHILE most 90-year-olds are putting their feet up, sprightly Jessie Burgess is delivering meals on wheels - to pensioners younger than she is.And to show that age is no barrier to enjoying life to the full, Mrs Burgess, who turned 90 on Monday still gets out to dig her allotment in Bobbit's Lane, Belstead.
WHILE most 90-year-olds are putting their feet up, sprightly Jessie Burgess is delivering meals on wheels - to pensioners younger than she is.
And to show that age is no barrier to enjoying life to the full, Mrs Burgess, who turned 90 on Monday still gets out to dig her allotment in Bobbit's Lane, Belstead.
Mrs Burgess of Croft Street, Ipswich said keeping young is just mind over matter and loves delivering the meals with the WRVS based in Cumberland Street.
She said: “I need to be needed. It is what keeps me going. Of course I deliver to people younger than me but that's not going to stop me from helping out. I will be delivering meals for a while as yet.”
Mrs Burgess said she started helping WRVS more than 20 years ago when she was living in London.
She said: “I passed a shop which had a sign hanging up saying they were desperate for volunteers.
“They needed people to drive bottle tops and sacks of rags to a shop in Fulham and so I said I would help out.
“Then in the 1980s I moved to Ipswich and straight away I agreed to deliver the meals on wheels to people who needed it.
“I have always wanted to help out where I could and this is my way of doing my little bit. I only do it once a month now and go out with a driver.”
Mrs Burgess said she got too hold to be insured on the company driving insurance but still drives her own car.
She said: “I keep myself busy and active. People keep saying I should give things up but I think that is what keeps me going.
“There is no good living to a ripe old age if you are not going to keep doing things and help others.”
Members of the WRVS congratulated Mrs Burgess with a bunch of flowers and birthday cake.
Sandra Pearson, district organiser, said: “We are very proud of her. She is a valued member of the team and is much appreciated by those who receive the meals.”
Are you a pensioner who is still young at heart? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
Evening Star “I'm the oldest” factfile:
On March 30 2007 the Evening Star reported Bill Morphew, 86, had worked for the same company for 71 years. Mr Morphew, of Little Clacton, Essex, has been working for the Bildeston-based company CK Squirrell and Sons since 1936.
On February 1 2006 the Evening Star reported that 94-year-old Bill Daniels, of Bethesda Eventide Home, in Henley Road, was still playing ping pong for the Britannia Table Tennis Club, in Henley Road.
The Guinness World Records recorded in 2000 that Bernie Barker, of Miami, Florida, was the world's oldest stripper at 63-years-old.
The Guinness World Records recorded in 2002 that at the age of 71-years-and-203-days-old Charin Yuthasastrkosol was the oldest performing ballerina. She performed in New Mexico, USA.
Source: Evening Star and Guinness World Records
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