COLLEAGUES of a 'loyal and dedicated' practice manager who has worked in a Thornbury practice for over 50 years have praised her as she is set to retire.

Teresa Witchell a much-loved member of staff at the Bank Cottage Dental has announced her retirement on April 14 after first joining the practice in 1971.

Teresa started a dental nurse alongside dentist Peter Birkett, training in the evenings at Bristol Dental Hospital.

She left the practice to work at Chipping Sodbury Quarry and then to have her children, Katy and Matthew, before re-joining the practice working with dentist Robin Cole-Morgan.

In 1998, Teresa became the practice manager, providing support to the principal dentists learning as she went along.

Colleagues say her 'true aptitude and enthusiasm was evident' and she was subsequently elected president of the practice manager association.

Keen to help charities where possible, Teresa and Jane, who was also a dental nurse at the practice, went to Tanzania in 2014 to support the dental charity Bridge2Aid.

This charity provides help for people who would otherwise have no access to dental treatment, some of whom walk for many miles and who have severe dental pain.

The duo spent two weeks assisting dentists and training local people so treatment would be available once they had returned home.

Staff say Teresa also aids charities closer to home and goes above and beyond to help, to help recently she has been supporting a Bristol charity cooking meals for the homeless and she has also volunteered for the covid vaccination programme at UWE, also as a member of the organising committee for the Bristol Balloon Fiesta Teresa's contribution was recognised and she was presented with the Montgolfier Award for Ballooning.

A spokesperson for Bank Cottage said: "Teresa’s loyalty and commitment have been integral to the success of the Bank Cottage Dental over many decades.

"Not only is she loved and respected by the dental team, past and present, but is also a well known, popular member of Thornbury and the neighbouring community.

"Everyone at the practice will miss her kindness, thoughtfulness and support but we all wish her a very happy retirement as Teresa has certainly earned it."