Nurses who trained and worked at The Horton Hospital in Banbury from the 1940s have met up for the first time in decades.

Some came from as far away as the US and Germany and many travelled from all corners of the UK for the staff reunion.

One former doctor, Dr Keir Leitch, was even made a honorary staff nurse for the event, at the Banbury House Hotel, on Sunday, for nurses who trained at the hospital between 1940 and 1965.

As part of the event a reunion book was created - almost 80 nurses were asked to write about their time at the hospital and what they had done since.

Photographs of then and now were also included.

A copy of the book will be donated to the hospital for its archives.

Organiser Dawn Griffis, 68, said the reunion was organised after her book about nursing at The Horton was published.

She said: "It was fabulous. There were 74 people there.

"They were so excited. They met people they hadn't seen for 40 and 50 years."Grandmother-of-six Mrs Griffis added: "Nursing was definitely different in those days and the hospital was very different. Some nurses hadn't seen the hospital since they did their training. It really was quite a unique event."

After her training, Mrs Griffis, of Aynho Court, Aynho, near Banbury, moved to the US, where she spent the next 40 years working as a nurse, as well as bringing up her two daughters.

Her next project is a book about nursing in America, called Nursing in America, the Good, Bad and Ugly.