With 180 years of combined experience, Tony Jenkin and Gordon Ingram certainly know how to celebrate their birthday.
The duo, both born on the same day (August 19, 1936), marked their 90th birthday at Pukekohe’s Possum Bourne Retirement Village recently.
While some may run out of puff after nine decades, Jenkin threatened to blow the house down when blowing out his candles as a potentially incendiary incident almost saw his party, quite literally, go off with a bang.
“I started to blow out the candles on my cake, but then my daughter-in-law (Helen) came running over, blew out the rest of them and said, ‘You silly bugger! You’re on oxygen – you could’ve blown us all up!’ I just didn’t think about that,” he laughs.
Dessert disasters – or near misses – aside, Jenkin says he spent his big day surrounded by family, including his wife of 67 years, Patricia.
“It was bloody marvellous. We had more than 30 from our family come along including four children and their spouses as well as six of our 12 grandchildren and 11 of 15 great-grandchildren. The little ones were the stars of the day. It was excellent.”
The couple’s remaining descendants, who were unable to attend the party for various reasons, sent their love and best wishes.
Jenkin was also visited by cousins on his actual birthday, August 19.
Ingram was the guest of honour at the party, Jenkin says of his fellow Possum Bourne resident. The two have even more in common than just being good mates who were born on the exact same day, however.
“The magic of it all is that Gordon’s grandson, James, married my granddaughter, Brylee, so we share two great grand-daughters, Gemma and Ruby,” Jenkin adds.
Both men have, similarly, been community minded over the years, and led active lives in their community.
Jenkin moved to Pukekohe in 1959, establishing a signwriting business, Albert Signs. He founded a Pukekohe Boys’ Brigade company, served on Pukekohe St John’s Ambulance Brigade and, when semi-retired, drove school buses.
Ingram was a truck driver by trade, working for several local firms.
