THE Dale’s grand old lady celebrated her 106th birthday with a barbecue.
Amazing Margaret Swan, who still lives at home at Wycliffe, celebrated with family and friends.
In her younger days, Mrs Swan regularly used a horse and trap to visit Barnard Castle with her seven children.
Now she is looking forward to taking delivery of an electric car courtesy of her explorer son, environmental campaigner, Robert.
She said: “We all need to do something as the petrol is running out and it is doing such damage to the planet.
“Electric cars are great as you can just plug them in to charge and off you go.
“My son Robert is going to buy me an electric car, once they are a bit cheaper.”
Speaking from his home in California Mr Swan, the first person to walk to both the north and south poles, said: “People say to me I’m a survivor, but my mother is the greatest survivor in the family.
“She also inspired all of us to care for the environment from an early age.”
Mr Swan, who will address world leaders at the forthcoming UN climate change summit COP26, in Glasgow, described his mum as his “biggest inspiration and influence” .
Mrs Swan adopted a vegetarian diet in her late teens and encouraged her family to recycle long before it hit the mainstream.
Her daughter Rebecca Drew, visiting from London, said: “She was ahead of her time in lots of ways.
“We’d go into Barnard Castle with the horse and cart, but we’d have to get out to go up the bank at Whorlton as it was so steep and we were a bit heavy for the horse.”
Mrs Swan, says her secret to long life is “laughter and a large family” .
Her son said he hoped to inspire those present at COP26 into taking action.
“The biggest thing we have to get coming out of this [COP26] is we need some action, not words and inspire others to want to make a change.”
