Marie proving to be a real trooper

NOMINATED . . . Marie Price

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A GLOBE-TROTTING nurse who has spent her life dedicated to caring for people in conflict zones and at home in the borough has been nominated for a Pride in Oldham award.

Marie Price has spent 45 years of her life tending to the care of patients and vulnerable people, including 22 years of service as a nurse in the Army, travelling around the world and working in dangerous conflict zones.

Scary

The 63-year-old, from High Crompton, worked in Cyprus during conflicts between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and was serving in Northern Ireland when Lord Mountbatten was killed by an IRA bomb.

She said: "It was scary at times, particularly in Northern Ireland.

"Whenever I was out and heard a loud noise or a bang I would run to shelter somewhere.

"We would see people come in with horrible injuries and some would not survive. But we'd also see some recover and it made the job incredibly rewarding."

Her job in the Army, where she eventually reached the rank of acting warrant officer, also saw her stationed in the Falklands towards the end of the war alongside a variety of postings in Germany and Hong Kong.

Marie, who knew she wanted to become a nurse from the young age of six, then left the Army and began working in a hospice caring for terminally ill patients in Cumbria before moving to Oldham and beginning work with the elderly at Chadderton Total Care.

She is now getting ready to retire in November, but plans to continue to care for people in the community.

Marie, who has been married to her husband Chris for almost 20 years, said: "I'm looking forward to retiring and I plan to take all December off.

"It has been a long career and I always say that if I had a pound for every bed I've made I could have retired a long time ago.

Shocked

"I want to catch up on my reading and relax but I plan to help out my church, Trinity Methodist in Royton, with pastoral visiting."

After being told that she had been nominated for the award, Marie said: "I am so shocked.

"I feel like I have done a lot in my career but it is an honour to be nominated for this award."