A pair of hang-gliding nonagenarians might take one by surprise but after a chat with Stella and Cecil Renfield there’s a strong sense that adventure is not so out of the ordinary for these two.
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When their grand-daughter asked Stella if she’d like a hang-glide as a 90th present, the two World War II veterans signed up immediately.
It took a while for weather and availability to coincide but last Saturday they were cleared for lift-off.
The glide was exhilarating, surprising both by how high they flew.
Now Stella has a taste for flight there’s no stopping her. She’s been on a hot-air balloon ride and would like to skydive but two hip operations in the past might prevent that.
They met at Southsea, near Portsmouth, when both were in the British naval services, in May 1944, about six weeks before D-Day. Next January they married. Four decades later, their daughter having married an Australian, they moved here once Cecil had retired from his job in advertising for Rothman’s tobacco company (he never smoked, hence the long life).
Cecil had first visited Australia as a 16-year-old working as a cabin boy on the Orient Line ship SS Oronsay. Now, they have settled in Tullimbah.
Cecil said Stella and he take life “day by day” but they’ve got plenty left to do.
“We keep fit,” he said. “We do all our own housework. We’re both pretty healthy. Our medications are virtually nil. We’re active, we don’t require any walking sticks, we do a lot of travelling.”
“And I still think I married the loveliest lady I could possible have married.”