Care home resident celebrates 97th birthday with dream helicopter ride

A care home resident has flown high to mark her 97th birthday.

Gwen Jinks, a resident at Broadway Halls Care Home in Dudley, lived out her dream by taking a helicopter flight above the region.

As part of the home’s ‘Make a Wish Come True’ programme, Ms Jinks was joined in the air by home manager Danica Chugh and activities assistant Nicky Malay on her birthday.

Each month, the team at the care home works to make residents' wishes come true.

The programme has been running since February.

The home's activities co-ordinator, Scott Bates, found out about Ms Jinks' bucket list dream to fly in a helicopter and made it a reality.

She was delighted as she arrived at Wolverhampton Half Penny Airport for the flight.

She was greeted by friends, staff from the home, and the pilot from AA Helicopters.

Ms Jinks, who has lived at the care home for two months, said: "When Nicky told me that her feet have never left the ground and that she had never flown before, I wanted her to come along and share this experience with me, to share the flight with people who look after me every day was special – a day to remember."

Danica Chugh, general manager at the home, said: "We believe that every moment is worth cherishing.

"We want everyone we care for to know how important they are to us here at Broadway Halls.

"It is testament to the hard work and dedication of the team here in making our residents’ dreams come true.

"It was wonderful to see how happy Gwen was – and the staff loved being a part of this as well."