A FORMER nurse and teacher who came to the UK from Germany after the Second World War is celebrating her 100th birthday.

Ursula Hoar was born on January 16, 1917, in the former German city of Danzig, which became the Polish port of Gdansk.

Her father, Konrad Kossman, was a staff officer to Marshall Hindenberg, and her mother, Elfrieda, a successful opera singer.

In 1940, she began studying medicine at Berlin University and towards the end of the war she was called in to join the team of doctors accompanying the German military to Hannover.

After the war, she worked at a hospital in Kiel, northern Germany, where she heard that her parents had been forcibly taken to work for the Soviets - she never heard from them again.

She also lost contact with her brother Helmut, who was a member of the German navy, and soon decided to move to England.

A talented theatre nurse, she started working at Westcliff Hospital and went on to work at St Thomas Hospital, Chelmsford.

While living in Westcliff, she became friends with Oscar-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren.

A keen cyclist, she regularly challenged herself physically and rode a Hobbs Barbican 5,000 miles in just nine weeks and travelled from Essex to Helsinki for the 1952 Olympic Games.

Ursula also worked as a German tutor, which is where she met her husband, Harvey, in 1961.

Harvey was impressed by his soon to be wife, who not only spoke several languages fluently, but was also a talented pianist.

She took up teaching full time in 1969, starting a job at Maldon Grammar School, and went on to work at 18 different schools and colleges over the next 25 years.

The couple shared many passions, including sailing, and took motorcycle trips from their home in Danbury to Germany.

Sadly, Ursula was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2003 and after paying final visits to her former home Danzig and her beloved Cornwall, she now lives at Millard House Care Home in Bocking, where she is a firm favourite of all of the staff.

Her husband said she is a modest woman, but is very much looking forward to receiving her letter from the Queen.

Harvey, 79, said: “We used to speak to each other in German all the time which I think helped her manage the loss of losing her family and moving to England. I still read German poetry to her now.

“She is so talented and so very kind, compassionate and fascinating. Without the war I would have never met anybody quite like her and I feel so incredibly lucky that I did.”