A KIND mum who nursed wounded soldiers, including German prisoners of war, has celebrated her 100th birthday.

May Scougal was joined by family as she marked her century at Florabank Care Home in Haddington on June 5.

The third child in a family of three girls and two boys – Olive, Elsie, May, Bill and Andrew – May lived with her parents, Willie and Sarah Mill, in a ground-floor flat in Tollcross, Edinburgh.

The family told the Courier: “The flat provided very limited accommodation – a ‘parlour’ (sitting room), two bedrooms and a kitchen/dining room with a bed recess.

“Off the parlour was a box room which served also as a bedroom; fortunately, it had a borrowed light from the kitchen so was not always pitch black.

“There was also an indoor toilet (no mean luxury when those flats were built) but no bathroom, so baths were in a tub in the kitchen in front of the fire!”

May’s faith has been a central part of her life since she was about 10 years old.

Her dad, who had been a self-employed tailor, died in 1940 when May was just 16.

The family added: “Wanting to help her widowed mother with the large family, she left high school and was eventually accepted for nursing training.

“She pursued this career through the rest of the Second World War and experienced the trauma of nursing wounded soldiers, including German prisoners of war.”

Four years after the war, May married David Scougal and brought up three children – Hannah, David and Janet – who joined her to mark her special birthday.

The family said: “May has experienced the joys (and trials) of not only her children but her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren and, if she hangs on a few months will, God willing, see her great-great-grandchildren – awesome!

“David and May were married for almost 60 years; it proved to be a very mobile married life!”

The couple lived in Leith before moving to Fife.

Work brought them back to Edinburgh before settling in the Liberton area, “which was the base for their retirement adventures”.

That saw the couple visit their daughter Hannah, her husband and family in the Netherlands, and later New Jersey.

However, the family revealed that May was “a slightly nervous traveller”, preferring roads to water or the air.

They added: “It took some persuading to get her onto even a Channel ferry, never mind a transatlantic plane!

“But they both enjoyed driving on the continent, Switzerland being a favourite destination.

“Eventually, David decided that the time had come to slow down and they finally left Edinburgh in 2003 (to everyone’s amazement) for a bungalow in Buckie on the Moray coast to be near their daughter Janet.

“In June 2009, on her 85th birthday, May’s husband David was called home to be with Christ.

“She faced her new future bravely, gallantly taking trains and buses around the country to visit friends and family.

“Her faith didn’t fail and she has continued confidently in her saviour’s care and love over these 15 years, living in her own home until 2021, when she felt unable to care for herself.

“She had always maintained that Florabank was the only place that she would leave her home for and, when a room became available, she moved at once. She has enjoyed the comfort of being well cared for these last three years.”