University student Gillian Kell is to spend three months working at an orphanage in Romania after being awarded £1,000 from a travel fund.

Gillian, 26, is a second-year English student at University College Chichester (UCC), which operates a travel bursary in memory of Kathleen Flaskett.

Ms Flaskett was a student at UCC between 1917 and 1919 when it was an all-female teacher training college known as Bishop Otter.

When she died in 1990 she left £11,000 in her will to help set up a bursary to enable students to widen their experiences through travel.

Now Gillian, of Brisbane Close, Worthing, hopes to do just that by doing voluntary work and teaching English to children aged six to ten at an orphanage school in the famous Transylvania region.

She said: "This is something I have really wanted to do. I had saved up some money but it would not have been nearly enough, so I am really grateful to have been awarded the bursary.

"Romania has slipped out of the headlines and even though it is 13 years since the regime fell there is still a lot to be done for the children.

"I am hoping to teach English in a fun way to help them improve their chances in life.

"I will have to write a report for the university and I will also be keeping a day-to-day account of my experiences for a writing course I am taking."

Gillian attended Durrington High School and Worthing Sixth Form College, after which she taught in Spain and Greece.

She then decided she needed formal qualifications and returned to Worthing to enrol at Northbrook College where she studied Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

Gillian plans to teach after she returns from Romania to complete her degree at UCC.

She added: "I have always loved travel and trying to get off the beaten track and away from the tourist areas.

"I was really glad I saw the bursary details on a notice board at the university and decided straight away to go for it."

A spokeswoman for UCC said: "The money which Kathleen Flaskett left has been very well invested. We are delighted it will help Gillian go to Romania."