A WOMAN who delivered more than 100 babies in Holme Valley homes has died.

Former district nurse and midwife Kathleen Maude Kaye was known as Kitty.

She was born in September, 1919, in Patrick Brompton, a village near Northallerton, the eldest of six daughters of Ethel Robinson, a nurse, and George Meynell, a farmer.

She spent her first 18 years on the farm, before going to Harrogate to train as a nurse. This was followed by midwifery training in Edinburgh.

By this time the Second World War had broken out and Kitty applied to join one of the nursing corps - only to be turned down, because midwives were needed to stay at home and deliver babies.

She worked for a while in Ipswich, then moved to Holme Valley Memorial Hospital in Holmfirth.

After her marriage to George Kaye, a footballer at Bradford Park Avenue, a Thongsbridge cricketer and a cloth presser, she became the district nurse and midwife for the Holme Valley.

It was a job she would hold for 34 years.

She lived firstly in Holmfirth, before moving to Honley in 1954, where she remained for the rest of her life.

As Nurse Kaye she visited many families in the Holme Valley, looking after the sick and delivering babies. She delivered more than 100 babies at home during her career.

After retirement, her interest in things medical and the good of the community continued.

She served on primary health care groups and Honley Aid and Sickness Committee.

She was in the Business and Professional Women's Club, the WI and local bowls club. She also ran a slimming club.

Her daughter, Jennifer Watt, said: "Kitty was a well-known figure in Honley, known to many just as Nurse Kaye.

" She was proud and pleased to serve her community. Many people will remember her and she will be sadly missed."