A grandfather from Stockwood is celebrating his 80th

birthday today – the eighth day of the eighth month of '08.

Aubrey Wring, who has lived in Bristol all his life, will be

marking all the eights with a tea party for his family and

friends.

Relatives said they were worried Mr Wring might not live to

see his milestone birthday after he underwent a serious

operation at Southmead Hospital in December.

He had an abdominal aortic aneurysm, where a portion of the

main artery in the body becomes widened.

His daughter Lyndsey Naldrett, who now lives in Belgium but

is in Bristol for her father's celebrations, said: "It is

absolutely wonderful that he is here to celebrate this

birthday.

"We were so worried for him before Christmas and for him to

get to this day is fantastic."

Mr Wring was one of seven children whose father was a

policeman and whose mother worked as a milkmaid.

As a child, he was a choirboy at Westbury-on-Trym Parish

Church and used to cycle from his home in Westbury to Weston to

buy eggs that he then sold as he cycled home again.

He completed two months of a course at a Bristol art academy

before World War II broke out and all the art teachers were

called up to serve, so the academy had to shut.

Mr Wring tried to get a job as a commercial artist, but he

says there was a paper shortage and all the companies were

interested in then was producing ration books.

Instead, he was offered a job working in the fruit and

flower market.

Mr Wring said: "I always remember that day.

"I was interviewed and then given me 10s to buy a new pair

of shoes ready to start work, because my big toe was broken and

poking out the end of one of the shoes I was wearing."

Since that day, Mr Wring has worked in the grocery and

florist industry. In 1951 he married his wife Iris, who he

lived with in Bishopsworth.

They opened a greengrocer's business in Avonmouth, before

selling the business and returning to work in Bristol once more

at the fruit and flower market, which had moved to St Philip's

Marsh.

Mr Wring, who has two children and three grandchildren,

enjoys spending time on his allotment, playing bowls and going

on cruise holidays.