Tatt's amazing! MY GOLD CARD TATTOO

Scared what her mother might think all those years ago, Fay put off her inking – but now she's happy for all to see

- Cloe Willetts

When bubbly Waikanae grandmother Fay Rose Tudor isn’t browsing shops for the latest fashion trends, learning to dance the Floss, riding her e-bike or stretching into poses during a Pilates class, the retired psychotherapist might be found showing off her tattoo in a swimsuit at a local river.

Although the mum-of-three is turning 80 this year, she believes there’s no age limit when it comes to having fun!

“I’ve always been a bit of a show-off and I’m an extrovert, so that’s not going to change just because I’m in my seventies,” says Fay, who pierced her ears for the first time at 45 because her beloved parents could no longer tell her off.

“I like to be active and up to date with things because I don’t want to feel like an old lady. My children had their kids late in life and so I’m a late grandmother. I want to keep young for them.”

When Fay grew up in London, her parents discouraged her from cutting her hair, piercing her ears or wearing make-up, but the former actress experimented with ’60s-style white lipstick and dark eye make-up anyway. At 65, after her German mother Liesbeth and British father Ivan had passed away, Fay had a dainty Tudor rose inked on her right thigh. The famous British emblem represents her name and English history.