IT was nine years ago that Beryl Pym walked into the hospitals in Moreton and Bourton to take over as the new matron, and now she is set to retire.

Staff and patients will see her on duty for the final time tomorrow (Friday), 40 years after she took her first steps in a nursing career and almost exactly nine years after taking her current post.

"I started on my birthday on August 19, 1991, and I'm leaving on my birthday," she said.

Her 40-year career, which has seen her have just two Christmas Days off work, began at Lambeth Hospital, which has since been demolished. From there she went to her home town of Hastings, then to Scotland as a staff nurse and back to Hastings as a ward sister in 1968.

After a period working in orthopaedics, paediatriacs and elderly care, she became a nursing officer. Her next stop was as part of a commissioning team at St George's Hospital in Tooting. She went on to work in the same hospital's accident and emergency department, where she and her staff had to cope with the horrors of the Clapham rail disaster in 1988. "It was horrendous," she said.

Mrs Pym came to the Cotswolds in August 1991 and said: "We have seen quite a lot of changes and it has been quite a tough job, but it is going to feel very strange to stop."

The changes made to both hospitals in the last nine years have been considerable. Moreton has seen new conservatory dayrooms built on two wards and the creation of a new outpatients' building.

The changes have, possibly, been even greater at Bourton's Moore Cottage Hospital, which has been transformed into the centre of a health village with a new dental and chiropody clinic and doctors' surgery alongside. A new ward and casualty unit have also been created and last Friday saw the opening of a new conference room created with a legacy from a former village resident.

The value north Cotswold residents place on their two hospitals is clear from the help they give and this in turn is highly valued by hospital staff.

Mrs Pym said: "The local people have been terribly good. The leagues of friends at both Moreton and Bourton have been fantastic and anything that we want they manage to find the money for. They are incredible."

She added: "I have had a marvellous nine years in the East Gloucestershire NHS Trust and really the staff have been so loyal and reliable."

Her retirement is not likely to be an idle one as she has some unusual plans. Top of the list is an icon painting course and she said: "It is one of the things I have wanted to do for many years. Whether I will be any good at it, I don't know, but I will try." She is also keen to offer her services to the Vale Wildlife Rescue Centre at Beckford, near Evesham, and wants to involve herself in disaster management teams who are sent abroad to help with disasters.

Her replacement is Maggie Arnold, who comes from Cheltenham General Hospital. "If she gets half as much fun as I have, she's going to have a wonderful time," said Mrs Pym.