AN EXERCISE machine made an unusual present for Ernest Wright’s 100th birthday.
The centenarian, of Fern Hill, Wootton, has been a weightlifter all of his life, and asked his family for a WonderCore2 to celebrate the occasion.
His son, Peter, said: “He was pleasantly surprised when he saw we had got him the WonderCore2 exercise machine for his birthday — although I’m not sure how much he will use it.”
Born just outside Wakefield in 1917, Ernest joined the army at 18 and, after training at Woolwich, ended up at Salisbury Plain.
When the war broke out, he joined the 10th Indian Regiment and was wounded twice.
After demob, he returned to Wakefield where he met and married his first wife, Mary.
He joined the prison service and trained as a bricklayer.
Mary died young, leaving Ernest to raise two young children. Three years later, he remarried and moved to Princetown before ending up in Albany as an engineer.
He remained a keen sportsman his whole life, teaching weightlifting at the prison in the evenings and continuing to exercise regularly until his last stroke three years ago.
Ernest has two sons, one daughter, six grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
Peter said: “He celebrated his day surrounded by family and friends and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think he was a bit overwhelmed at times.”