BIG-HEARTED Territorial Army medics joined a daredevil nurse to raise money for a mercy mission to Mozambique.

Soldiers from 201 Field Hospital, in the North-East, helped staff nurse Joan Woodyer abseil from the top of North Tees General Hospital, Stockton, at the weekend.

Ms Woodyer, a staff nurse at the hospital's intensive care unit, wants to work with The Bread of Life Foundation, which provides health care and education for children in Mozambique.

She has been given unpaid leave to go to the country for three months. She will work in a hospital and also help to set up a Lifeline Clinic, which will include a feeding and education centre.

Ms Woodyer, of Norton, near Stockton, needs to raise £1,700 for her air fare and living expenses for the trip, which leaves on may 9.

She decided to do the abseil to get her fund-raising under way.

She said: "Both the hospital and the TA have been marvellous in supporting me, and I can't thank them enough.

"I had never abseiled before, and it was a real experience."