IN THE thick of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations, a new addition was being celebrated at Okehampton Maternity Unit.

Weighing in at 7lb, little Georgia Mary Kensa Wickett arrived nine days early among the fanfares and flying flags.

Mum and dad Veronica and Jason had decided against naming their first child 'Elizabeth', 'Queenie', 'Goldie' or even 'Julie B' suggested by a family member, but were delighted she had arrived on such a special day.

'We have bought the newspapers with all the jubilee coverage so we can keep it for Georgia,' said Veronica. 'It was a one-off celebration and to be born smack bang in the middle of it all is wonderful.'

Veronica, who lives at Tresmeer near Launceston, chose Okehampton Maternity Unit to have her baby partly because she was born there herself in 1972.

'It came highly recommended,' she said. 'We had also been reading an article about the difference between general hospitals and smaller maternity units and it was a choice between Okehampton and St Austell.'

Around 70 babies are born at the unit in Okehampton each year and many more new mothers are transferred there for post natal care.

Mothers stay in the unit up to five days after the birth to learn how to care for their child and feel completely confident before they go home.

'Everybody was absolutely wonderful and unbelievably supportive,' said Veronica, who had a 14-hour labour. 'I wanted to be somewhere where I was treated as a person and not a number and I cannot speak highly enough of the staff at Okehampton — we feel like we have known them for years.'

Never having been in hospital before, the new mum said everything about the unit was homely and non-clinical.

Midwife Heather Elson said justifying small maternity units was a constant struggle because of the cost of them but at Okehampton they prided themselves on quality rather than quantity.

'We are about giving good care and getting parents prepared for when they return home,' she said. 'Mothers are well-rested and able to cope when they leave here. In some general hospitals they are in and out within 24 hours.'

The catchment area for Okehampton extends to Crediton, Lifton, Holsworthy, Black Torrington and Postbridge, but residents from outside the area can also book into Okehampton if room is available.

'We deliver first babies here if the pregnancy has been normal and mothers come back again and again to have their babies. We have even had someone from Uganda and Bolivia,' said Heather.

The nearest small maternity units are in St Austell and Tiverton. When Okehampton's new community hospital opens later this year, the new maternity unit will include a birthing pool as well as a labour ward, three single-bedded rooms, a sitting room and nursery.

It is also hoped that early pregnancy scans can be carried out at Okehampton so patients do not have to travel to Exeter.

For Heather, who has worked as a midwife in Okehampton for 11 years, keeping a maternity unit in the town is a priority.

'We feel passionately about it because it is a quality service,' she said. 'Everything else is being shut down around us. It is essential we keep this going.