Tauranga 101-year-old Dennis Gillard is as sharp as he is straight up – believing the youth of today's generation are less fortunate than back in his day – yet he wouldn't mind having a spin in an electric car!

Born on August 31, 1921, in Essex, England, Dennis moved to New Zealand in 1923 when his parents emigrated here. He's lived most of his life in Auckland, where he raised his four children Christine, Michael, Jenny and Pauline with his late wife, Joy Gillard – who he was married to for 60 years.

'To stay in a marriage you need ear muffs and to shut this up,” says Dennis, pointing to his mouth with a laugh.

Love your job

A smart man in his marriage, Dennis believes loving your job is the key to a long life too. 'In my way of thinking – if you've got job satisfaction – boy you've got it made, because it was a pleasure to go to work.” He spent most of his career working as a sheet metal worker creating products. 'It was a great job…you had to be very innovative. Nothing would be worse than having a job you didn't like.”

Based on how switched on he is for 101, it wasn't surprising to discover Dennis still drives. 'I get around in my car. I've got a Mazda3,” says Dennis. He does have his eyes set on electric vehicles, however. 'I'd like to have an electric car and the thing that I really would like to have had is an Ebike.”

Too much!

Dennis thinks there's too much available for today's younger generation, however – no matter how impressive the toys are. 'I wouldn't like to be your age,” says Dennis. 'I can only compare my youth to yours – there's so much available.” As someone belonging to Generation Z, it was refreshing to be told how it is by someone more than seven decades my senior. 'I think you're unfortunate…the trouble is today it's all about money.”

If you can afford to buy a house in this economic day and age, Dennis says: 'You've got to have the latest this, the latest that…the pressure is on those things rather than enjoying yourself”.

'In my years all we had was a bloody pushbike and we used to do all sorts of things on pushbikes. We didn't have half of what you guys have, but we had a happy life.”

Be happy

And if he wasn't on his bike, Dennis would be in a boat. 'We were always in boats in Auckland…we'd go down at night and spear flounder…we were just always in boats – we had a pretty good trot.”

In place of boating and biking, Dennis took up bowling at age 81 and is still part of Bowls Matua. 'The fellowship of bowls has been very good.” Dennis says every Thursday the bowls crew take him and two of his bowling buddies to The Raft café. 'Those are the sorts of things that lift you along.”

'I've been very fortunate with my life…the big thing is to be happy.”

Dennis Gillard served in World War II as ground crew in the Air Force. Photo: Georgia Minkhorst.