MORE than six decades after she left her home on Teesside to join a religious order, Sister Lucy Stacco still finds endless joy in her life and calling.

The sprightly 80-year-old shared her 60th jubilee with friends in Crook, County Durham, looking back on a lifetime of experiences and achievements, many of them in the world of education.

The Faithful Companions of Jesus has been Sister Lucy's life. When she joined as an 18-year-old in 1943, she was allowed little contact with her widowed mother and the rest of the outside world.

Later, she taught in and led schools in Manchester and Jersey, retiring to Crook 12 years ago.

She long ago discarded her traditional nun's veil, living, she says, as an ordinary member of the St Cuthbert's parish, with her silver cross as the only trapping of her order.

She said: "It has all been wonderful. There must have been some bad times when I had confrontations with angry parents or teachers, but they aren't the things I remember.

"All the things I remember are wonderful, beautiful things. I have been so blessed.

"People ask me why I joined and how I can be happy when I am so apparently deprived.

"You give up certain things when you take your vows but your life is so fulfilled in other ways.

"I have been chosen by God to do something special."

Sister Lucy celebrated her jubilee with a Mass and faith supper shared with members of the congregation at St Cuthbert's and other churches in the area.

Her present from the parish was a trip to Malta where her family originated and where she still has relatives.

She said: "The people of Crook have taken me to their hearts. They are all so loving and appreciative and that makes me very humble.

"There is a wonderful community spirit in the parish and a great ecumenical spirit here in Crook.

"We are all one family."