Bruce, 107, was born and bred in Boro

THIRD-OLDEST RESIDENT OF NEW ZEALAND CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY

- By DAVE ROBSON [e-mail] @TeessideLive

HE'S the third oldest man in New Zealand, but Bruce Powell was born and bred in the Boro.

Bruce, who recently turned 107, has lived in New Zealand since 1955, sailing there with wife and children Susan and Trevor after being lured by an advert for an electrical draftsman at Auckland naval base.

Bruce says he took the job because he was fed up with English weather and felt deeply concerned Britain was developing its own atom bomb.

But for the first 37 years of his life, he lived in England and mainly Teesside where, after attending Kirby School with sister Kathleen until he was 11, and then St Mary's College, he became an electrical apprentice and helped install electricity into public buildings such as Middlesbrough Town Hall.

After joining the Territorial Army (Royal Engineers) when he was 18, he was called up during the Munich Crisis of 1938 and helped man the harbour defences near Redcar, when he broke several windows in nearby Warrenby after setting off the guns.