Wigan great-grandma's wish to ride a Harley-Davidson on her 90th birthday comes true

Well Barbara Morris’s dream came true when her son Martin, with support from The Widows Sons North West Chapter, took the idea and ran with it.

And so it was that a motorcade of 14 bikes, with Barbara riding pillion on a Harley, set off from Ambleside Bank Care Home in Lower Ince where she now lives, making its way through Wigan, up to Shevington and through to the White Lion in Wrightington for a celebratory meal.

On arrival, Barbara said she felt “the years melt away” as the wind blew across her face.

She has lived in Wigan for over 50 years and for much of that time with her late husband Peter.

In 2022 she moved into Ambleside Bank due to declining health and mobility.

But it was as her 90th approached that she joshed with Martin that she’d love to get back on a bike, specifically a Harley-Davidson.Barbara got her bike licence in the 1950s and has always had a love of motorbikes which has been passed down to her sons and grandsons.

The Motorbike association, North West Chapter of the Widows Sons are all Freemasons with a love of motorbikes and they regularly meet raise money for charity.

When they heard about Barbara’s birthday wish they rallied together to make it happen.

Her granddaughter Kirsty Harvey, 34, who also helped organize the surprise, said the inspiring pensioner had a “daredevil spirit” and wasn’t fazed by anything.

Kirsty said: “My uncle said to her ‘You always said if you made it to 90, you wanted to go on a Harley,' and then she said, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you remember that’.”

"She’s a bit of a daredevil.

"She’s got nerves of steel, she’s not really afraid of anything. She’s kind of from that generation that was made of tough stuff. Nothing really fazes them.”

Widow Barbara, who grew up in Leicester before moving to Wigan, got her first bike, a Royal Enfield 350, in the early 1950s when she was about 19.

And the mum of three, who was married to husband Peter for 58 years, quickly caught the bug for two wheels, which she then passed on to the rest of her family.

Kirsty, an NHS pharmacist technician, said: "In the 1950s, when she was a young girl, around 18 or 19 years old, it was the easiest way to get around.

“She did the equivalent of the CBT test and got a little 125cc bike. She went around town on that when she went to college.

“She always had a little bike that she nipped about on. Her three sons later all had motorbikes and a keen interest in motorbike racing and groups."

Barbara joked with her son Martin that she wanted to ride on a powerful Harley Davidson motorbike if she made it to 90 as she’d never been on one before.

So her family surprised her when they turned up at Ambleside Bank with the North West Chapter of the Widows Sons.

And she was thrilled to find out she'd be riding pillion for around seven miles on the iconic bike to the White Lion.

Kirsty said: “She didn’t know anything about it at all but the care home staff were in on it. They permed her hair and did her make-up, and got her dressed up nicely.

“We all met there and two of the nursing staff led her outside because she’s not very mobile, she needs a lot of help.

“She can’t see very well, so they had to take her right up to the bike, and when she realised what it was, her face was just a picture.

“She thought it was just a nice bike to look at, and when we actually told her she was going on, she was a bit speechless.

"She couldn’t quite believe what was happening."