Most grandmothers are given a box of chocolates or Marks & Spencer vouchers for their birthday – but not Vera Carter.

The gung-ho super gran celebrated her 90th birthday with a helicopter ride across the Black Country.

The aerial tour, a surprise gift from her family, took in all of the places close to her heart – Dudley Castle, Wollaston, Bewdley and the home of her beloved West Bromwich Albion, The Hawthorns.

Cheered on by family members, the great-grandmother, who grew up in Dudley and now lives in Wollaston, took off from Bobbington Airport in South Staffordshire.

Relatives broke the news of the trip on Mrs Carter’s 90th birthday on Friday after she had mentioned to a neighbour that she had always wanted to go in a helicopter.

“I couldn’t believe it when they told me,” said Mrs Carter, who used to work in the Edward Grays of Dudley sweet shop in Wolverhampton Street.

“But I wasn’t nervous. I think a few years ago I would have been but not any more. So I just bucked my ideas up and off we went. It was marvellous, such an experience.

“The view was beautiful. You could see all of the Black Country and then the countryside alongside it. It was mind-boggling.

“It was such a smooth ride. I couldn’t believe it when the pilot told me we were doing 120mph.”

“My grandson Lloyd was making jokes about sky-diving next but I think I might give that one a miss.”