A nurse at Macclesfield General Hospital spent her final days in the loving care of her colleagues in the ward where she worked for 10 years.

Former midwife Gwyneth Holland’s final wish as she lost her battle with lung cancer was to be looked after on ward 10, surrounded by her friends.

Known to friends as Gwen, she had been diagnosed just one month earlier.

Her daughter Tracey Tett, who lives in Warwickshire, said: "It was so nice that it was all her colleagues looking after her.

"Staff even came in when they were off duty to see her. I think she really appreciated it. She had moments when she was awake and she would always see a familiar face around her.

"She was devoted to her job, she really cared passionately about it."

A grandmother of four, Gwen, 66, from Byrons Lane, Macclesfield, had returned to work on Ward 10 two days a week after retiring in 2003, but was diagnosed with lung cancer in August after falling ill at work.

She spent some time at home before returning to hospital care just before she died.

Staff nurse and friend Pat Brocklehurst, 63, of Monsall drive, Macclesfield, said: "When she came back into the hospital we all wanted her on our ward to look after her.

"It was incredibly special for us all to be able to care for her. I wasn’t on duty but would go in and visit. She was one in a million."

Michelle Gillespie, Ward 10 manager, said: "Gwen always put patients and their relatives first, treating them with dignity and respect. Her wishes were to be looked after on Ward 10. The staff were honoured to carry out this request for her in her final hours. She will be sadly missed and all our thoughts are with the family."

Born and bred in Macclesfield, the former Central High School student worked as a nurse for more than 30 years.

She began as a psychiatric auxiliary at Parkside Hospital before training to become a nurse while her children were young.

She was a ward sister on the children’s surgical ward at the Infirmary, before moving to Macclesfield General Hospital to work on the Children’s Unit.

She married her husband Brian St George’s Church on High Street, in in 1962.

Together they had three children, Tracey, Beverley and David, and four grandchildren, Annabelle, 15, Laurence, 12, Gabriel, 13, and Paris, 10.

The funeral will be held at Macclesfield Crematorium at 11.20am on Tuesday, October 5.

Donations to Macmillan Nurses are asked to be made in lieu of flowers.