Birthday surprise for bridge cleaner Ron
Jackfield's Ron Miles had a surprise when he arrived to clean up the Jackfield and Coalport war memorial bridge as a project on his 92nd birthday – there was somebody waiting there to give him a hand.
"A lady took me down in a car and when she dropped me there I was surprised to see another lady with a broom in her hand who happened to be a near neighbour of mine, who lives five doors away," said Ron.
"She said: 'I've come to help you clean the bridge.'"
Although Ron, a former member of the Coldstream Guards, had planned to do it as a solo effort, he joined forces with his helper, Cally Parr, digging out tufts and grass on the bridge.
"As she is younger and stronger than me, she did most of the work. The man at the British Legion at Coalport has had a look at it and said it was a damn good job done."
The metal footbridge over the River Severn opened in 1922 as a memorial to the local Great War dead.
