Tributes as one of Sheffield’s oldest residents, Norah Doyle, dies days after 104th birthday

Norah Doyle had lived the last few years of her life at the Rose Cottage nursing home in Halfway, Sheffield, having lived in her own home on City Road, Sheffield, until she was 99.

Born in Ashfordby, near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, she moved to Sheffield as a young child after her father took the job as signalman at the Totley Tunnel.

She lived in a cottage close to the tunnel, and used to share stories of how she would play in the tunnel as a young child.

Working as a seamstress, she made suits for a firm of tailors in Sheffield city centre until she retired, making them until she was 65.

Norah, who suffered from epilepsy throughout her life, married Wesley Doyle, known to her and his friends as Paddy, during World War Two.

The couple had one son, Robert, who died tragically in a road traffic collision in 1984 at the age of just 42. He had a daughter and four stepchildren.

She celebrated her 104th birthday on January 19, but celebrations were limited by Covid-related restrictions. She did however receive a visit from her granddaughter, Tracey Beck.

But Norah died this week, on Tuesday February 8.

Her funeral will be on Tuesday, March 1, at Brimington Crematorium, Chesterfield. Donations to the British Heart Foundation will be made in lieu of flowers.

Granddaughter Tracey said: “She was great at telling us all about her childhood, playing in Totley Tunnel, and taught us lots of card games.

"She lived through two world wars and two pandemics.”

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