AN ISLE of Wight resident has been honoured after 40 years of service with Red Cross — in the same year she reached her 90th birthday.

Carmen Michalska, of Alfred Street, East Cowes, began her relationship with the worldwide crisis charity in 1979, having been advised to take a role by a friend who was already involved.

Carmen, who was born in Madrid, has lived in the UK for more than 60 years and has been on the Island for more than 50.

All seven of her children were born in England.

In 1993 she met Queen Elizabeth during an International Red Cross conference in Birmingham where she acted as a Spanish interpreter and escort.

Carmen said: “She came into the room and stopped right in front of me to say hello. I couldn’t believe it.

"Then she asked me where I came from, and when I said the Isle of Wight in my accent, she roared with laughter and said, ‘Carmen Michalska from the Isle of Wight’ because she could read my name badge.”

Carmen, who works in the Red Cross Shop in Newport every Monday, went in as normal one day and received a surprise — cake, cards and the award — an accolade richly deserved after four decades of dedication.

The nonagenarian deems her favourite memories with the Red Cross to be meeting good people and supporting patients who needed to go to hospitals around the country.

“I remember having to travel from the Island to a London hospital at 9am one morning with a patient I was supporting who had a serious condition,” she said.

“We waited and waited, so when it got to 4pm I told the person at reception that if we missed our connection I was taking the patient to the best hotel in London. They saw us within ten minutes."

Carmen trained as a nurse in Oxford and gained five qualifications before leaving to have her children.

For Carmen, longevity may have some connection to her genealogy, with her grandmother living until the age of 108.

A colleague at the Red Cross shop said: "We absolutely adore having Carmen in the shop on Mondays, and she loves the banter."