U NTIL she retired at 60, Jo Ashley had spent her career working as a scientist.

It was a role she enjoyed. However, people often told her that she should have chosen a different path.

"Over the years so many people have said to me: 'You should have been a model'," says Jo, who is 5ft 8in tall, with an inside leg measurement of 36in.

Now, at last, she is – at the age of 67.

Jo, who lives in Fishponds, explains: "About three years ago, I started thinking that maybe I could still become a model.

"Then one day I saw an advert from an agency for models of any age, shape and size, and I thought I'd have a go.

"That agency took me on although they never gave me any work.

"So I then contacted some others, and ended up getting taken on by agencies in London, Bristol and Bath which have all given me work."

Jo, who has two daughters and six grandchildren, will be featured in three episodes of the new series of 10 Years Younger, in which she will be modelling clothes.

"The modelling for 10 Years Younger is the most high-profile television I've done so far," says Jo, who was filmed in studios in Stoke Newington, north London.

"I appear as one of the models wearing fashions in a new slot showing how you can look good for less, in which they look at a celebrity in a designer outfit then get a cheaper version from the high street, and show it on models of different ages."

Jo – who retired at the age of 60 in 2002 – looks slim, fit and attractive for her age, and has no desire to emulate the women featured in the show who are trying to look a decade younger.

"I'm not what I was because I'm older. But although my looks are going, they're still useful to somebody," she says with a smile.

"People who think that modelling is just for 20-something stick-thin girls with long blonde hair are under a misconception.

"There is work around for models of all ages. I'm tall and thin, but you don't have to be."

So where did she get her striking looks from? "I got my face from my mother and my long legs from my father, who was always very slim and fit," she replies.

"I have to buy size 10 jeans in extra long, which are not easy to find.

"I'm lucky – I don't have to watch what I eat. I don't do any exercise, but I do quite a lot of walking and I also do gardening on my allotment in St George, where I grow my own veg."

Jo was brought up in London, and had wanted to attend the Lucie Clayton modelling academy after she left school.

"It was very expensive, and modelling was something my mother wouldn't have wanted me to get into," she says.

"Joanna Lumley, who's about the same age as me, went there and made a very good career for herself. Not so many girls were modelling in those days, but now every little girl wants to."

I nstead of becoming a model, Jo started working as a principal laboratory technician in schools.

She then moved to Bristol and became a physiological measurement technician at Frenchay, rising to become department manager by the time she retired.

"Sometimes I wish I'd got into modelling when I was much younger, but I think I had a better career as a scientist from a financial point of view."

So far Jo has done a variety of photographic work, mainly for brochures, and has also done catwalk modelling in fashion shows.

She obtained an Equity card last year, and has also begun working as a film and TV extra, appearing on programmes like Gavin and Stacey, How to Look Good naked, and Casualty.

"I don't go off modelling every day," says Jo, whose next booking is for a catwalk show on Ladies' Day at a racecourse later this month.

"Unless you're a top model you don't earn thousands and thousands of pounds a day.

"I just think of it as a lovely hobby for someone like me. It's a great thing to be doing in retirement, and I'm getting a lot of fun out of it and meeting a lot of new people.

"I love fashion anyway, and I do a lot of sewing for my daughter, who runs a ballet school – I made all the costumes for her recent annual display."

Doesn't Jo find it difficult when she is turned down for jobs at modelling castings?

"You just have to accept that your face doesn't fit. It's not a personal slight on you or your ability, you just don't have the look they want," she says.

"I don't look back and regret what might have happened if I'd started modelling sooner, and I don't have any regrets if I don't get chosen for a job. I just enjoy what I'm doing."