NORFOLK WOMAN BORN DURING WORLD WAR ONE CELEBRATES 103RD BIRTHDAY
A former midwife living at a Norwich care home has celebrated her 103rd birthday. Annie Nicholls marked the occasion at Thomas Tawell House, Vision Norfolk’s care home for people with visual impairment.
Annie, who has lived at the home for nearly ten years, was born in Potter Heigham in 1917, while the First World War was still at its height. While training as a nurse in the 1930s, she contracted tuberculosis and had part of one lung removed – not that his has stopped her living a full life.
She later became a district midwife working around Potter Heigham. During World War Two she worked with the Church Army, and remained an active member of the church throughout her life.
She married late in life and had no children, but she has a large extended family around Norfolk. She now has very little sight, and has fading hearing – although that does not stop her living life to the full, according to one of the charity’s trustees, who visited her regularly prior to the coronavirus crisis.
“Annie is a remarkable lady,” said Karen Norton, who is herself visually-impaired, and who talks to Mrs Nicholls regularly on the phone during the current isolation period. “She is very gentle, humble and modest, and one of the most caring people I have ever met.”
Visitors are currently not permitted at the care home as a precaution during the coronavirus pandemic, but staff ensured that Mrs Nicholls was able to enjoy the day, making her a cake and celebrating with her.
Vision Norfolk was formerly known as the Norfolk & Norwich Association for the Blind.