AFTER more than 30 years helping to bring babies into the world, midwife Pauline Shuker is planning a well-earned rest.

Mrs Shuker, who trained in Bristol, qualified in Birmingham and has spent the last 20 years in Upton, is taking early retirement in order to travel, tend her garden and "escape" from birthing's modern technology.

"I've delivered babies in all kinds of different places since I qualified in 1967," she said. "From teepees and converted buses to well-to-do houses. I've even had to climb over a balcony in a block of high-rise flats to avoid a German shepherd dog in order to get to a lady who was giving birth.

"I've looked after babies belonging to people whom I delivered, although I've never actually delivered the baby of a baby."

Mrs Shuker said she particularly enjoyed doing home births.

She explained: "Home is such a lovely place to bring a child into the world, without all the monitors and equipment that surround them in hospital. Other things may change but they still come out the same way.

Mrs Shuker leaves Upton Clinic on Monday, October 29 and says she will miss the camaraderie of colleagues.

Her desire to travel was fired by a working trip to China two years ago. She already plans to ski in Canada and harbours a desire to see the Galapagos Islands.

She is married to David, an engineer, and lives in Kempsey. They have one daughter, Katy, aged 26, a district nurse in Pershore.