Shirley Watts, a much-loved shop assistant at the Thie Bee shop in Noble’s Hospital, is retiring after working a number of different roles within the outlet over 17 years.

The newsagents, which is owned by the government, is based at the main entrance of Noble’s Hospital and serves daily essentials to patients and visitors.

Mrs Watts’s final shift at the shop was last Friday when she was presented with a bouquet of flowers and a cake.

She said: ‘I’ve loved my time here and I’m going to miss it so much, especially all the people and staff.

‘Some people on a Sunday night moan that they’ve got work tomorrow, I’ve never said that because I love it so much.’

Mrs Watts, 65, has seen change over the years of service she’s provided to the retail store, with it originally being owned by a private company when she began.

‘For about 13 years I worked under a private company here, and then about four to five years ago the government took over shop and I stayed on,’ she said.

Shirley is well known in Noble’s Hospital, that has been at its current location of Strang since 2003, for her trolley round where she delivers essentials and snacks to patients across all the sectors of the two-storey hospital.

She said: ‘I’ve done the trolley round for about 14 years, going around the wards and seeing all the patients and staff.

‘Lots of people have been here for months, and they’re lonely as some of them don’t get any visitors – they see the trolley coming in and they love it.

‘The patients love my earrings, I wear funny earrings and they love them all, one of the gifts they’ve given me is a bag full of fantastic earrings, which is amazing.’

Despite all the great memories over her time at the shop, the period of uncertainty when Covid-19 hit was ‘extremely hard’.

‘We had to stop the trolley going round, and we had to close down the other side of the shop, it was very scary,’ she added. ‘It was sad for the patients and the customers coming down and wanting things and it was all closed, but we all battled through.

‘I think Covid has been the hardest time for all the staff in the hospital, with the hours people had to work and the stipulations put in place.’

When asked about her plans post-retirement, Mrs Watts said: ‘My daughter is expecting a baby and I’m looking forward to looking after my new grandchild.’

Staff at Noble’s Hospital were quick to praise Mrs Watts’s tenure.

Kathryn Ansell, a registered nurse in endoscopy, said: ‘Shirley lights up the ward when she comes in with her trolley, the patients love her and she’ll go out of her way to help anyone.’

Kirsty Finnigan, assistant at the shop, described Mrs Watts as a ‘legend’ and the retail outlet will ‘struggle to replace her’.