Seamer farmer, 100, has 'no plans for retirement' Published duration 22 October 2013

media caption Walter Bainbridge has worked in farming all his life and is still involved in the family business.

A Teesside farmer who has celebrated his 100th birthday has said he has "no plans for retirement".

Walter Bainbridge, who has worked in farming all his life, said he had "never wanted to do anything else".

He said two of his sons and two grandsons now carry out most of the day-to-day running of Greystones Farm, Seamer, near Middlesbrough

However, he said he planned to continue working because "I don't know what I'm going to do when I get old".

Mr Bainbridge said he was still involved with the farm and continued to travel to auctions around the region.

'Feel better now'

He said: "We had no opportunity to choose what to do when we left school, you were expected to work on the farm.

"Some of the life was hard, but you don't think of it being hard work, it's something you get used to."

He said that even at his advanced age, he still takes each job "as it comes".

"I don't feel old, I feel better now than at the age of 50," he added.

Hundreds of people attended his recent birthday celebration, including his 34 grandchildren, 46 great grandchildren and 11 great great grandchildren.

He said he had "got 140 cards [which] took me six hours to get through them".

He added that he had a "lovely day", but that he "paid more money for the party than I paid for my farm".

'No plans whatsoever'

He said he did not have any hobbies, "all I've known is work, that's what I've been used to".

image caption He describes farming as hard work, but "something you get used to"

"I always have something to do, whether I'm at home, on the farm or at the market."

Mr Bainbridge remains a regular figure at markets as far afield as Hexham and Northallerton.

"I've been coming to the market since I was 14 years of age," he said:

"It's a way of life, it's nothing special, it's just what I do."

He added: "I've no plans for retirement, no plans whatsoever.