PENSIONER Jeanette Hancock's 70th birthday was a roaring success in more ways than one thanks to her two nieces.

They made a dream come true for the Marlborough OAP by organising an outing for her on the back of a Harley- Davidson motorcycle.

Mrs Hancock, from Baywater in Marlborough, had been telling friends and relatives For years that she always wanted a ride on one of the American-built cult motorbikes.

Her two nieces Jeannette Anderson and Ann Cuningham, with a little bit of help from Marlborough and District Rotary Club, of which Mrs Hancock's husband Peter is a member, made the dream come true.

On Sunday as Mrs Hancock was preparing to go out for a birthday lunch with family and friends she heard the roar of motorcycles outside her home.

She said: "I heard this roar of a motorcycle and thought it was my niece's son who rides one.

"When I went out to greet him there were not one but three Harley-Davidsons standing there."

Her nieces, aided and abetted by rotary club president Gordon Spiller, had arranged for the motorbike owners from Swindon to give Mrs Hancock a birthday surprise.

She said: "It was more of a shock than a surprise when I saw the three Harleys outside the house and neighbours had come out to see what was going on."

To start with Mrs Hancock thought the bikes were just there for show and then it was explained to her that she was travelling to the birthday lunch at the White Horse at Compton Bassett not by car but as a pillion behind one of the bikers.

Her two nieces provided a set of leather riding gear for Mrs Hancock to don.

Then her dream really came true as she was whisked over the downs from Marlborough to Compton Bassett where other drinkers and diners were surprised to see a leather-clad 70 year old stepping down from one of the machines.

Mrs Hancock, whose husband followed by car, said: "We started off at very sedately through the High Street.

"But when the fellow was confident that I was not going to fall off we roared along the A4 on the straight bit towards Calne.

"He told me after that we were only doing 60mph because of the speed limit but it seemed much faster to me."

During the journey they went through a storm and Mrs Hancock said: "So I even know what it's like to be riding one when it's raining.

"I gather they don't normally take their Harleys out in the rain because they treasure them so much."

Mrs Hancock said she had always dreamed of riding on a Harley-Davidson from her teenage days when a friend gave her a lift on a motorbike while she was staying at a holiday camp in North Wales.

She also had occasional rides on her brother-in-law's motorbike and sidecar but said the dream of riding on a Harley never went away.

About three years ago it was fuelled even more when Mr and Mrs Hancock visited Las Vegas and she was delighted to discover a Harley-Davidson convention was taking place at their hotel.

She said: "The girls were coming through to meet their fellas dressed in leather mini- skirts with red garters and it looked so good."

The plucky pensioner said she had not ruled out dressing up like the American girls if she ever gets invited to ride a Harley-Davidson again.

She mused: "Perhaps I will do that for my 80th birthday."

It was a birthday she will never forget, she said. "I was not looking forward to the big 70 because nobody does, and like everyone else, I did not want to get there.

"The bike ride though really made my day and I cannot thank my nieces enough for their thoughtfulness and the three Harley riders for coming along and helping make my dream come true."

She said her husband was in on the surprise although he had been careful not to leak it to her.

"I have to thank everyone involved for giving me a most marvellous day," Mrs Hancock said.