Remarkable mum Jo 'kept smiling right to the end'

SHE wanted to be known as “just an ordinary mother” - but Jo Allan, who has died aged 103, was anything but. Remarkable Jo, of Middlesbrough, was not only one of Teesside's oldest citizens, she probably had one of the largest families, as a mother of 12, grandma to 37, great-grandma to 54, and a great-great-grandma to two - a family of 105 before partners were even counted.

- By DAVE ROBSON

Born Josephine Byrne in Middlesbrough on November 18, 1921, to George and Sarah Byrne, Jo attended St Philomena's School, then Newlands Convent on Abingdon Road. Her favourite early memories included dancing at The Assembly Rooms on Linthorpe Road and movie nights at The Elite and the Palladium picture houses, watching such classics as Gone With The Wind.

On leaving school, she worked at Newhouse's - later Debenhams - for £4 a week, then the Spottiswoode and Ratcliffe ticket agency, where she met her beloved husband of 61 years, the late David.

After raising their family in Cumberland Road and then Norwich Road, Jo became a council rent collector and was bitten by dogs more than once!