Three retired nurses at a care home near Ipswich were treated to a special surprise to mark International Nurses Day.

Retired nurses Daphne Shave, 86, Kathleen Caley, 80, and Margaret McGirr, 88, are all now residents at Spring Lodge care home, in Woolverstone, run by Kingsley Healthcare.

Staff presented the trio with flowers and chocolates ahead of a celebratory afternoon tea on the special day, May 12, when nurses around the world are celebrated.

Ipswich Star: Daphne Shave as a nurseDaphne Shave as a nurse (Image: Kingsley Healthcare)

Activities coordinator Aimee Davey said: “They all led amazing lives of service to the community and we wanted to show our appreciation.”

After starting her working life at Pretty’s corset-making factory in Ipswich, Daphne worked as a nurse during the 1950s at Felixstowe Hospital.

She met her husband Peter at a dance hall in Ipswich, and eventually left work to start her family. They have two boys, Trevor and Adrian, and four grandchildren.

Ipswich Star: Kathleen Caley, right, as a nurseKathleen Caley, right, as a nurse (Image: Kingsley Healthcare)

Kathleen left school at 15 and became a student nurse at Essex County Hospital in Colchester.

She recalled that, after a year’s probation, she was taken on as a trainee nurse, earning £2 and 10 shillings a week.

After stopping work to raise her two sons, Phillip and Bryan, she worked at Thornbank Nursing Home, in Ipswich.

She rose to become home manager for 17 years before she retired in 2000.

Ipswich Star: Margaret McGirr, second left, front row, with a group of fellow-nursesMargaret McGirr, second left, front row, with a group of fellow-nurses (Image: Kingsley Healthcare)

Margaret started nursing in Southend Hospital and then worked as a nurse in Africa after getting married.

She later returned to work at Southend Hospital and in the community, while raising her three children and fostering many others.

Spring Lodge also recently held a VE Day tea in honour of another resident, Jantje Huggins, 93, who survived the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.