A former Islander paid her own way to go on a solo trip to Morocco to deliver aid.

Denise Carter-Evans was too busy with work and family commitments to drum up funding or find people to go with her to the north African country.

She had made a promise to return that she wanted to keep so she paid for the £1,200 mission out of her own pocket.

The 59-year-old, who is a senior staff nurse on the stroke unit at Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, has made several trips over the years, including as part of a convoy of vehicles, to give remote villages access to medical supplies.

This time she went on her own in a Vauxhall Zafira transporting donations of clothes, shoes, blankets, clothes as nights can get very cold in certain areas.

A defibrillator, false leg and a nebuliser – a drug delivery device – were also given away.

She visited some of the poorer city suburbs, where families live in brick houses with corrugated roofs and also went to communities living in the Atlas mountains, which she said although they are not poor, are remote and have just one doctor to every 17,000 people.

She also met with local doctors about possibly setting up a stroke unit in Morocco in the future.

Although she made most of the journeys on her own, Mrs Carter-Evans met up with some Moroccan companions who helped her hand out goods.

A young musician who was helping her and three of his friends also put on a musical concert for children during the trip.

She said: “There is a great need in Morocco. I have been many times over the years.

“My husband [Erwin Marriott] died some years ago and he had a great passion for equality and health and also he liked eastern cultures.”

She admitted that driving in the country can be alarming to an outsider but joked she feels more comfortable driving on the right hand side of the road these days.

Mrs Carter-Evans, who received a Pride of Medway award for her efforts last year, is already planning to go again next February.

Anyone who would like to join her can contact her on deancaev@yahoo.co.uk, or call 07891 283466.