Pearl Bird has been involved in running local and national elections for decades … and she is lending a helping hand for one more time next month.
Mrs Bird started assisting staff at a polling station when Clement Attlee was Prime Minister and in the intervening years has seen no fewer than 13 Premiers preside at Number 10: Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May.
She admits she has not been on duty at every poll for the past 67 years – her family moved abroad for a while – but she was back in Ipswich in the 1980s and has been helping out at the polling station in Kemball Street for the past 30 years.
The 84-year-old met the Mayor of Ipswich for tea in the Town Hall to mark her incredible service and changed her mind about a planned retirement. After being encouraged by Returning Officer Russell Williams, she said she would do one more stint at the General Election on 8th June.
Mrs Bird is pictured with the Mayor, Roger Fern
