TRIBUTES have been paid to former Portland Mayor Valerie Durston who collapsed and died at her home on the island.

Mrs Durston, 76, who once nursed Winston Churchill, was found by a young friend, Paula Brown, who alerted the emergency services.

She was remembered by friends and colleagues for her role as a town councillor and a generous benefactor of numerous local charities.

Mrs Durston, who was mayor in 1996/97 spent many years trying to heighten the status of the town council.

She was praised for her work as patron of the Weymouth and Portland Friends of the Children of Chernobyl.

Rick Winterburn, chairman of the group, said: “She sponsored the organisation’s coffee mornings and paid for a coach to take the children to Longleat each year as well as supplying them with pocket money.

Terry Shakespeare, Superinten-dent of Portland St John Ambulance, paid tribute to Mrs Durston’s support over the years.

She said: “She was a great supporter of Portland St John Ambulance and donated thousands of pounds to their various projects over the past years.”

Born in London, she trained as a nurse at Middlesex Hospital in London where, as a state registered nurse, she looked after many well-known figures, including Winston Churchill.

She eventually became a sister in the A&E unit at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton where she met John Durston, the son of Portland poet Skylark Durston and they married in 1963.

He became a consultant neurologist with the NHS but also had a practice in Harley Street.

Mrs Durston transferred to occupational health, working for firms such as Waitrose and Walls Ice Cream, and later set up an occupational health service at hospitals within the Great Ormond Street Group.

For eight years she was a member of the General Nursing Council and she also was a member of the Royal College of Nursing, of which she was chairman of the annual congress in 1988.

She ended her career as City and Hackney’s District Occupational Nursing Adviser in London.

Ongoing health problems were added to by her husband’s deteriorating health so they returned to spend their retirement on the island, where John died in January 1992.

Portland councillor Margaret Leicester said: “There was much more to Valerie Durston than her extreme generosity, she was outspoken in matters affecting Portland and the town council and she always got her facts right.”

Funeral arrangements will be announced later.