WITH just nine years to go before he becomes a centenarian you could be forgiven for thinking that John Leatherland would be sitting at home waiting for someone to regularly deliver his hot meal.

But far from it.

In fact the hard-working volunteer has only just ended his 15 years service as a meals on wheels driver with the Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) -- delivering meals to customers far younger than himself.

Mr Leatherland, of Mayflower Way, Ongar, was the oldest deliverer of meals on wheels in the area, but his career came to an end with Epping Forest Council's decision to centralise the service and to

use paid drivers instead of volunteers.

He has lived in Ongar since 1981, and is a well-known face around the town having enjoyed his time doing his delivery rounds in his red Ford Fiesta.

"I would have liked to have carried on with meals on wheels," he said. "I made friends with many of the customers and quite often I might be the only person they saw all day."

He remains an active WRVS member and regularly drives people to a clinic in Ongar.

"It is a marvel to me that I have lived so long and am still capable. Plenty of people my age and younger are not so capable. It is all the more surprising because my mother died when I was only one year and eight months old of kidney trouble."

His father died aged 74. But longevity must be somewhere in his genes because Mr Leatherland's eldest brother lived until he was 94 and another brother is still alive at 96.

Mr Leatherland suffered a heart attack which kept him in hospital for six weeks when he was 52, but puts his lifestyle down to the fact he is now approaching his century.

"Moderation in all things has been my guiding factor," he said. "I don't smoke and if wine lasted a year it would take me that long to drink it."

He keeps his mind active with crossword puzzles and books, although he is not a big television fan. His favourite reads are biographies, travel journals and whodunnits -- and he also enjoys gardening.

When he was younger he enjoyed pottery, DIY and woodwork and made plenty of the furniture in his home.

He also painted his bungalow a vivid pink, although he said: "They didn't have the pink I wanted so I mixed my own, and it came out brighter than I expected."

The world has changed a great deal during Mr Leatherland's lifetime. He has lived through both world wars and seen huge advances in technology and transport.

He said: "I can remember seeing the first motor bus in operation in Birmingham. Previously there had only been horse-drawn buses.

"Women's position in society is another big change along with general behaviour and attitudes."

He added: "There has been a considerable increase in recreation and entertainment -- not always for the better in my view."

He has memories of the First World War during which his eldest brother Charles served in the army.

He said: "From him we would hear all about the horrors of trench warfare. As a boy I remember seeing ambulances bringing in wounded soldiers to one of the schools which had been turned into a hospital.

"One thing which I think young people don't appreciate about the war is the loss of an entire generation, and the number of fine men who were killed."

He married his wife Florence in 1933 and they lived in Birmingham until after the war when they moved to Loughton. His working life was spent as a personnel manager in the plastics industry, responsible for up to 6,500 employees.

His wife died soon after he retired, and it was after then that he moved to Ongar to his present bungalow.

On his 90th birthday last year, Mr Leatherland -- who has a son and a grandson -- held a party for his neighbours and friends.

Until last year he made chocolates for many of his neighbours although it was mainly the women who got boxes given to them as presents.

"I used to give them at Christmas to the ladies in the surgery and in the library, and the ladies in the post office."

However, he gave that up last Christmas when he began to lose the dexterity needed to hand make the sweets.

Although 91, he is proof that getting older need not mean life going downhill.

"I believe that when you retire if you want to keep going you have to keep going."

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