A former matron at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) found a wonderful surprise reminder of her nursing career in Birmingham when she celebrated her 100^th birthday.

When Margaret Ann Jones was invited to cut the cake at her birthday party in Aberystwyth, Wales, she discovered an old photograph from her time at the QEH.

The black and white picture, believed to be taken in the 1960s, had been transposed onto her birthday cake by her nephew Alun Evans.

It shows Margaret Ann, who is known to her family as Megan, looking on as a patient is examined by a doctor.

Alun, 56, who combines work as a farmer with a job as a research technician in biochemistry at the University of Aberystwyth, had planned his aunt’s surprise.

He said: “I knew that Aunt Megan spent most of her nursing career in Birmingham so I went online to see if I could find any old photos. But I was very pleasantly surprised when I came across a picture of her at the QEH.

“She was deputy Matron there for most of her time and she then took over as Matron for the last few months before she retired, which was about 40 years ago.”

After getting approval to reproduce the archive photo, Alun was able to transpose it onto her birthday cake for the special centenary party.

He added: “She didn’t know anything at all about it so it was a really lovely surprise for her, as well as for her friends and family at the party. I’m sure it brought back a lot of memories for her.”

Megan’s niece Marian Evans later followed her into the nursing career, and also trained at the QEH School of Nursing in Birmingham. She later worked at Selly Oak Hospital before training as a health visitor.