A woman described as "a foundation stone" of her community lived through two pandemics before dying at the age of 103.

Ivy Thraxton, of Hethersett, was born on November 30, 1918, in Stoke Holy Cross, near Norwich, just days after the armistice was signed to end the First World War.

Not only was she was a baby and toddler through much of the Spanish flu pandemic, but shortly after her 100th birthday, Covid struck.

Ivy spent her childhood in Stoke Holy Cross but moved to Little Melton and then Hethersett when fate took a hand.

She met her husband George, who was the son of family friends in the village.

After their wedding, the couple moved to Little Melton and then a cottage in Hethersett and eventually built their own bungalow in Lynch Green.

She was one of the original residents of Woodcote Sheltered Housing complex in Firs Road, Hethersett, when it opened 36 years ago.

Much of Ivy’s working life was spent at Norwich High School for Girls where she undertook a variety of jobs.

And while her husband was away in the army during the Second World War, Ivy walked every day from her home in Hethersett to clean at the school.

In 2018 she celebrated her 100th birthday at Woodcote surrounded by residents, friends, and relatives. Ivy had two daughters, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

On that occasion she reminisced about how life in Hethersett had changed over the years, looking back on the days when the village had a large coal yard that delivered coal to various parts of the country and a bakery that delivered throughout Norfolk.

Woodcote scheme manager Stephen Baxter said: “She will be greatly missed as one of the foundation stones of our community.

"She was warmly loved by all residents and never had a bad word to say about anyone. She was independent-minded even after a full century, nothing could deter her from walking around the scheme and attending events in the lounge and she had a perceptive smile and didn’t miss a trick about what was going on around her.

"Woodcote will be the poorer for her absence but we know she would want us that are left to enjoy life as she did.”