Three Sunderland pensioners who won praise in 1993

What a set of heroes - and they all made the Echo headlines in the same year.

We are continuing our look at the golden generation of Wearside people who were still achieving greatness in later life.

Meet three people who were in the Sunderland Echo news in 1993.

He started running at 60

Marathon man Joe Welch was preparing to run his fourth London Marathon in 1993 - aged 73.

Joe, from Silksworth, started his remarkable running career when he was 60.

Most mornings he goes out for a seven or eight-mile training session.

He ran his first London Marathon at the age of 68, after he retired from his printing job in Watford to return to his native Sunderland.

Malta's thanks for Oliver's service

War veteran Oliver Trenholme was awarded a gong - 50 years after earning it.

The 80-year-old from Pallion was a former RAF sergeant who served on Malta from 1940 to 1943, while the Germans tried to starve and bomb the population into submission.

But the plucky Maltese, backed by British and Allied troops, kept the enemy at bay until the island was relieved.

A second visit to Ypres

First World War veteran Bill Rennoldson was 96 in 1993.

He got to return to Ypres in October that year in a trip arranged with the Sunderland Echo.

He also got a ride on a Vaux dray and here he is in 1993 with dray driver Robert Macklin riding through the city street.

The Battle of Ypres was a series of battles in the First World War and were thought to have been responsible for more than 1 million casualties.

Tell us if there is a hero in your family who achieved great things in years gone by.

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