Bertha was born on June 5th 1922, to George and Gertrude Rounce at the Crown Public House in Banningham between North Walsham and Aylsham, the home of her grandparents Mr and Mrs Howlett whom she adored.
As an only child, she grew up at Norwich Road in North Walsham and during the Second World War she was in the Land Army and used to cycle to Westwick Hall and Worsted working in the apple and cherry orchards which she loved. She then trained and worked as a hairdresser at Beninghams in London Street, Norwich.
Bertha (far left) is pictured with her friends in the Land Army.
In 1946 she married her late husband Ivan- affectionately known as Curly, who lived in Hunstanton and worked as a civilian engineer at RAF Sculthorpe. They lived at Austin Cottage in Mission Lane Docking and were sadly not blessed with children.
Widowed in 1983, Bertha continued to live a quiet and frugal life at Austin Cottage with her budgies, canaries and cats, which were the family she never had. For many years she enjoyed making her beer for her daily shandy, and was never happier when she was watching sport on the television, a keen supporter of Norwich City Football Club, she also loved snooker and tennis. If it wasn’t television it was Radio Norfolk, especially Keith Skipper and Roy Waller - she was delighted to have a surprise mention on his radio programme when she celebrated her 70th birthday and treasured the card and signed photograph he sent her. Simple pleasures in life which made her very happy.
Sadly a couple of years ago her health deteriorated and she suffered several falls, after a spell in hospital she made her new home at Rebecca Court Residential Home in Heachem where she was well cared for and enjoyed a new lease of life with many new friends. She died peacefully in her sleep on March 21st the first day of spring, and will be sadly missed by the staff and residents who have all spoken of her with great respect and fondness.
In accordance with her long time wishes, her entire estate was sold and shared between 10 local charities to support animals, children, the elderly, poor and lonely.
Bertha’s legacy of £18,000 had a significant impact on Nelson’s Journey. We were able to employ a full time Child Bereavement Services Manager which enabled us to increase the level of services we are able to offer and the number of bereaved children we were able to support. Without Bertha’s contribution to our service we would not have been able to take that significant step forward so soon.
We will be forever thankful to Bertha.
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