A KENT businesswoman who overcame illness to found the Thanks Darling gift website is celebrating its first anniversary.

Janette Vince, from Belvedere, founded www.thanksdarling.com in November 2001. She had the idea three years ago after being fed up with the unimaginative gifts that she was given.

She had no experience of the Internet but was so convinced that her idea could work that she raised capital by selling her home and previous business, booked herself on to numerous Internet and computer courses and turned her dream into a reality.

She had suffered from long bouts of illness and even had periods in her life when she was wheelchair bound due to severe rheumatoid arthritis.

The site, which offers gifts ranging from striptease lessons to holding a tarantula, has just gone into profit. A children's zone offers teenagers the chance to take the driving wheel for the first time.

Recipients who don't like their gift can exchange it for another activity or more conventional gifts such as flowers, games, jewellery or hampers.