Annie (Nan) Julia Watts ¹

  Research Notes:

NAN WATTS MOVES TO MAIDSTONE Miss Annie Julia Watts, affectionately known as 'Nan', attended St John's Church for the last time on Sunday 11 August 1991. Most of the congregation were away so that only a few members heard the announcement that Nan was leaving West Wickham to live in a home just outside Maidstone. It was a sad occasion, for Nan has been a member of St John's ever since she was baptised here on 9 April 1900 by the Revd. Bertie Roberts, but failing health means that she is unable to stay in the cottage in Sussex Road where she has lived since 1908. Nan's departure has severed a direct link with the old village of West Wickham and the village people.
Nan grew up in a loving Christian family and attended both the village church in the High Street, and St John's. During the Great War she worked in a munitions factory in Addiscombe, cycling there in company with her sister Florrie. After the War she became a matron at Eltham College, and later was appointed Head Matron at Shoreham-by-Sea Grammar School where she was employed until her retirement. (No guesses as to how she acquired her nickname.) After retirement, Nan Watts was always an honoured guest at Speech Days and Old Boys' reunions when 'her boys' greeted her with great affection. She remained active in retirement and was a member of the British Red Cross Society for 25 years working at the West Wickham Disabled Club.
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  Noted events in her life were:

• Census UK: Aged 1, 1901, Connaught Cottage, Kent Rd., West Wickham, Kent, England. ⁴