A New Addington grandmother-of-15 proved that it's never too late to make your dreams come true when she embarked on a nursing degree at the age of 57 last week.

Despite the fact that Mo French left school without any qualifications she is now well on her way to achieving her dream of becoming a fully-qualified nurse after completing an NVQ.

Mo was one of 29 NHS staff from Croydon Primary Care Trust (PCT) to receive an NVQ award at Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, last Thursday.

Mo said: "Age isn't a drawback if you're determined to succeed. The NVQ assessors at the PCT gave me lots of support and encouragement to really go for it. I've always wanted to be a nurse after leaving school with no qualifications, I never had the chance until now."

Croydon PCT provides a variety of clinical NVQ programmes to staff which allow employees to gain a qualification while they work.

A New Addington resident of 35 years, Mo joined the PCT four years ago as an auxiliary (untrained) nurse at Shirley Clinic and seized the opportunity to study for an NVQ which would allow her to undergo proper nursing training.

She started a nursing degree at Kingston University on September 20.

Mo's experience of caring for her nine-year-old grandson at weekends, who has cerebral palsy, gave her the incentive to further her education.

She added: "The NVQ has made me think more deeply about the things I do for him. He really inspired me to do it."

No doubt Mo's remarkable achievement will go on to inspire others to do the same.