TRIBUTES have poured in for a dedicated village nurse who cared for the people of Eckington for more than 30 years.

Sister Edna Lambert, who died after a long illness, became the village nurse to replace Miss Corbett when she retired in 1951.

She set up the Infant Welfare Clinic which used to be in the village hall, the same year, and ran it for 31 years.

Villagers then took over the running of the clinic for next 23 years until it closed through the lack of support this year.

In February 1952 three women from the Eckington Women's Institute helped Nurse Lambert open the very first baby clinic in the village.

The nurse encouraged all new mothers to attend or visited them in their homes.

She also covered large areas including Tewkesbury and Ashchurch, Northway, Beckford, Defford and Ashton-under-Hill.

The village nurse was the first point of call for many Eckington villagers of all ages and was on call day and night, seven days a week. Her duties also included making school visits.

Nurse Lambert was referred to as cheerful, hardworking and quite strict when she had to be.

The nurse originally from Morpeth in Northumberland and during the war was trained and worked in several big hospitals before settling to work at the Pershore and Bredon medical centres.

Her sister, niece and nephew came to stay with her in Eckington often and her patients also became her close friends.

Nurse Lambert remained in touch with all villagers up until her death and will be deeply missed by all those she came into contact with.

The funeral at Holy Trinity Church in Eckington was attended by scores of villagers.