A LEDBURY woman will celebrate turning 100 by flying over her home in a classic Tiger Moth biplane.

Plucky Lilian Higgins will take off as a passenger from Staverton airfield near Cheltenham on Sunday, July 8, having reached her milestone on Thursday.

Her son Frank has even gained special permission from the aviation authorities for the open-cockpit aircraft to "buzz" her house and birthday party at West Hill, by swooping low to just 100ft.

Proud Mr Higgins said: "I think my mother is game for anything and she absolutely loves to fly."

This week, Lilian was keen to try on a classic leather flying helmet for size in preparation for the thrill of a lifetime.

But she is no stranger to adventures on her birthday, having celebrated turning a sprightly 98 with a tobogganing trip to the snows of Austria.

When she was 90, she asked for a hot air balloon flight that took off from The Glebe at Hanley Castle and landed at Corse.

Mr Higgins, of Pomona Barns, arranged the Tiger Moth flight because there was one ambition that his mother never achieved, a flight in Concorde.

He was unable to secure tickets before the supersonic jet went out of service.