A WREXHAM woman born on the day the NHS started has paid tribute to the health service.

June Smith, of Gwersyllt, will celebrate her 70th birthday on Thursday, the same day the National Health Service turns 70.

The brainchild of then health secretary, MP Aneurin Bevan, the national health service began on July 5, 1948, providing all medical services, diagnosis and treatment free for all.

And the family of Mrs Smith, born in Rossett that day, were one of the first customers in the Wrexham area.

Mrs Smith said: "I had always been told if I had been born the day before, they would have had to pay for the healthcare."

She has paid tribute to the trail-blazing free service, which is still envied and admired around the world where in many places healthcare has to be paid for privately, after a lifetime's free treatment.

Mrs Smith was admitted to the Wrexham Maelor Hospital in March 2014 after suffering a heart attack.

She said: "I stayed from a Thursday to a Sunday in the Maelor Hospital and then went to Broadgreen Hospital in Liverpool for scans."

Mrs Smith made a recovery and after her ordeal she wrote a letter to The Leader praising the Maelor Hospital for it's food.

She said: "The food was nice so I wanted to tell people about it because hospital food usually gets such bad press."

Mrs Smith now attends a local Cardiac Rehab programme which includes various exercises to help rehabilitate people after heart surgery or treatment.

She added: "I'm really enjoying going to the gym and I've even told them I want to carry on after the programme finishes."

Mrs Smith lives with her husband and her dog and has three sons and two grandsons, aged 12 and 13.

Instead of a birthday party to celebrate her 70th birthday, Mrs Smith embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime journey.

She said: "I treated myself to a trip of a lifetime to Abu Dhabi and Dubai instead of a 70th party because I'd had a party for my 60th and 65th.

"My friend Mary found a leaflet in a magazine and knew how much I had always wanted to visit the tallest building in the World, the Burj Khalifa, and rang me to ask what I thought.

"I immediately said yes. We went from June 5-12 and it was so amazing.

"We went up to the 148th floor and I didn't want to leave!"