Elizabeth Byrne is toasted by colleagues and residents

A CARE home worker and laundry assistant was presented with flowers, chocolates, presents and pink champagne at an ­emotional send-off.

Elizabeth Byrne was thrown a retirement party to remember after 20 years at Rathmore House in Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage. The 75-year-old said: “I’ll definitely miss it. I’ll come back to visit and I may do some voluntary work here but it is time to put my feet up a little bit.”

Originally from Wicklow in Ireland, she came to north London in 1958 and worked for 40 years at a bakers in Cricklewood, before getting a job in ­Rathmore House.

She said: “I wanted a role that had less paperwork. I’d lost my husband six years ­earlier and, with three children, I felt I had to keep working.”

She added: “The home has changed a great deal since 1997. It was refurbished three years ago and it looks a lot different now to when I started. It’s a truly beautiful place. The staff are lovely and it’s been an extremely rewarding place to work.”

Ms Byrne said she was now looking forward to spending more time gardening and ­visiting her family in Ireland.

Care home manager Rachel Musrati said: “She knows the residents well and is always here past her shift because she takes time to chat to them. She recognises everyone’s laundry and there’s never a mix-up over whose clothes are whose. We are so going to miss Elizabeth.”