TRIBUTES have been paid to a former Bolton midwife who witnessed the birth of the first test tube baby.

Nancy McCall died aged 86 following a short illness and leaves behind her husband Ken, children Andrew and Katie, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

In a long career that took the great grandmother-of-two from delivering babies in Farnworth to seeing the birth of the first test tube baby, she eventually became head of Midwifery services at Bolton and was awarded an MBE for her services to the profession.

Nancy, who lived in Farnworth, had left her family farm in Herefordshire at the age of 16 to pursue a role in nursing. Daughter Katie McCall, aged 51, said of her mum's decision to leave home to take on the world of midwifery: "It was quite an adventurous step for a young woman at the time but I think it was something she always wanted to do.

"She always said she lived a full life and she had been loved and had loved in return, which is a nice thing to be able to say at 86."

The daughter of Albert and Annie Price, Nancy was one of four siblings who grew up in the small village of Michaelchurch. After attending Hereford High School for Girls she left the family-run farm to become a cadet nurse at the Royal Manchester Hospital.

At 18 she started training to become a sick children's nurse, and met her husband-to-be Ken McCall, from Atherton, while in Manchester. They tied the knot in Llanveynoe, Herefordshire, in 1951, before moving to Whitley Bay, in the North East.

They later moved to Dorset before setting up home in Farnworth in 1961.

Nancy became the district midwife, helping with home births and even gave birth to her second child Katie at home.

Her career then took her to Oldham General hospital where she was a senior nursing officer in midwifery. She was a leading midwife at the hospital which lead the way with the conception of the world's first test-tube baby, born with the help of vitro fertilisation in July 1978.

He daughter added: "She delivered lots of babies at home and was proud to have never have lost a mum. She was well-known in Farnworth in the 60's as there were lots of home births. If we were out shopping in Farnworth you'd bump into lots of people she looked after.

"She went from delivering babies in a small terraced house to the being there when the first test tube baby was born.

"She loved her job and the number of staff she kept in touch with and who kept in touch with her is amazing, I think she must have been a very good boss."

Nancy went on to become Director of Midwifery during the development of Bolton's new maternity unit, overlooking the organisation of the new facilities, and welcoming Princess Anne at its official opening.

In 1985 she visited Buckingham Palace with her husband and daughter to received an MBE for services to midwifery.

"She was really, really proud of that," Katie recalled.

"She was passionate about her profession, very vocal and she represented midwifery in the UK at a couple of international conferences.

"She did her job because that's what she wanted to do and wanted to be the best that she could be, but for someone else to see that and to meet the Queen was a big thing for her."

Nancy retired from midwifery in 1989 but continued to keep active, helping school children with their reading skills and was a director of the Bolton branch of the Samaritans. She continued to volunteer with the charity up until last year.