A Market Drayton district nurse is looking forward to spending more time on the golf range when she retires next week.
Sue Walton, who has worked in the nursing profession for 40 years, will officially hang up her uniform on Wednesday – the day before her 60th birthday.
Mrs Walton started her career at St Mary’s Hospital, London, in 1968 and spent five years as a staff nurse in Jamaica before arriving in Market Drayton in 1990.
She said: “I’m looking forward to being retired, but not actually retiring.
“I just feel I’m all nursed out as I’ve been a nurse, on and off, since I was 18 and I believe I’ve done my time in the NHS.
“I want to move on to start my retirement while I’m still young and healthy, although I’ll miss my colleagues and the patients.
“I plan to play more golf, travel to China in October with my husband Richard and I have a garden to try and get on top of.”
Mrs Walton has spent the last few years as team leader for a group of 12 district nurses based at Drayton Medical Centre who cover the town, Hodnet and Shawbury.
She has two children, Ben, a former member of Great Britain’s disabled gymnastics team, and Laura who is an anaesthetist.
Mrs Walton said: “I was thrilled when my daughter said she wanted to go into medicine but it was completely her decision.
“There have been many changes in nursing from when I started and there are more forms, paperwork and computers to deal with than ever before.
“I’ve always been a practical person and I also wanted to travel, so I knew I could go around the world if I got a nursing qualification.
“Jamaica was exciting and because it’s an English-based system, it was very much home from home which I really enjoyed.”
Mrs Walton intends to keep in touch with her colleagues while enjoying the “freedom of retirement.”
She said: “Qualifying as a district nurse was a big achievement and being a team leader was hard work, but rewarding.
“Now I’m just looking forward to the freedom of retirement and I have a few projects in mind, not least improving my golf handicap.”
By Winston Brown