A popular pensioner who did not let her age get in the way of her active lifestyle has died unexpectedly.

Stephanie Leslie, 92, of St Mary’s Bay had lived on the Marsh since 1969 and was a well-known midwife, delivering countless babies across the area over generations.

Tributes have poured in on social media and the well known grandmother has been described as a “wonderful lady whose life was so full and interesting.”

According to her son Keith, she died of sudden heart failure and did not suffer before her death last week.

She worked as an occupational nurse, extending her services to East Africa and also did health checks for workers who were constructing the Channel Tunnel.

Mrs Leslie also extended her duties to the Dungeness power site.

She qualified as a nurse on the day the NHS was founded, July 5, 1948, at the age of 24 and retired in 2003.

She trained at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

In an article published by this newspaper in 2010, she was dubbed the “oldest gym bunny in St Mary’s Bay” because of her commitment to exercising.

She joined the Marsh Academy Leisure Centre in her 80s and became a regular there for more than a decade.

She was even midwife at the birth of her personal trainer, Emma Parkes.

The general manager at the leisure centre, Jason Mahoney, said: “She was a remarkable lady, she inspired so many people.

'She was a remarkable lady, she inspired so many people.' - Jason Mahoney at Marsh Academy Leisure Centre

“She came here three times a week, I show people round all the time and they are often nervous, but then they would walk in and see Steph on the rowing machine.

“She showed anybody that it was possible and we miss her a lot.”

Mr Mahoney said she would bring a “bag of biscuits” in for the staff once a month and became “a part of the family.”

Just over two years ago, Mrs Leslie was invited to cut the ribbon at the opening of a new Lloyds Pharmacy branch in New Romney High Street because of her dedication to health services.

Her funeral will take place on Friday, November 11 at 11am at the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Lower Blackhouse Hill in Hythe.

It was a church that Mrs Leslie regularly went to.

Family flowers only but people can make donations to a preferred charity.