AS far as birthday celebrations go, a round of crazy golf or a picnic on the beach doesn’t seem to cut it when you’ve reached 90, writes John Collings.

George Cole, who was born at Warleggan, has spent his whole life working on the land so he fancied taking to the skies to celebrate reaching a milestone.

Unfortunately, opportunities for jumping out of an airplane are few and far between his Morval, near Looe, home, so he opted, instead, for the next best thing … a hair-raising zip-wire ride at Adrenalin Quarry, Menheniot, where they boast having thrown people off cliffs since 2009.

George’s daughter, Joanne and her husband, Jim Studds, took over the planning and the birthday boy was soon making his way to the starting point, 165-ft above the flooded former Blue Elvan stone quarry at Clicker Tor, staring down at the 1,600-ft long zip-wire.

There to wish him on his way with a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ and rousing cheers were George’s wife, Avril, now 89 years old; his son Tim, who travelled from his home in Cyprus for the occasion, Joanne and Jim plus three great-grandchildren, along with plenty of friends.

And what did the new member of the nonagenarian club make of the experience: “Great! It was just great, can I do it again?…”

After a day or two to recover George was guest of honour at a more traditional barbecue party organised by Joanne and Jim at their home in East Looe, where family and friends from outside Cornwall were also present.

Sadly, George and Avril’s other son, Jeremy, died suddenly last year from a cancer-related illness. He had spent his career working for aid agencies in Australasia, where he had made his home since the 1980s.