A MUM who dreamed of joining St John Ambulance as a little girl now directs New Zealand's frontline ambulance service and recently received an honour signed off by the Queen.

Norma Lane, originally from Ducklington, near Witney, is the St John New Zealand director of clinical operations - meaning she oversees the country's primary ambulance service.

Her journey started when, aged just six or seven, she saw a woman collecting for St John in Witney and told her mum Agnes: "I want to be one of those."

She went on to join the Witney Brigade as a cadet, serve as a nurse in the NHS and work with ambulance services in the UK before returning to St John in her current role as the first woman to lead ambulance operations across the country.

Earlier this month she received the honour of being invested as a Member of the Order of St John.

The 57-year-old said: "It's almost like it's all come full circle. I would never have dreamt that I would have returned to St John in this role.

"I always said to my family that when I retired from the NHS I would volunteer with St John, never thinking it would happen in a paid role doing what I was in the UK."

After seeing the woman collecting for St John in the centre of Witney while shopping with her mum as a young girl, Mrs Lane was given some money to give to the collector.

She asked if she could join and was told she was too young - but did get a small role wrapping up bandages after adult members used for training.

After that she joined the Witney Brigade as a cadet until she was 18. While in the brigade she received a Grand Prior’s award.

She went on to complete a nursing degree at Dorset School of Nursing and worked in the NHS before joining the ambulance service in 1988.

Mrs Lane has held a number of roles, including the executive director of nursing and delivery for South Western Ambulance Foundation Trust.

She saw the job in New Zealand as a fantastic opportunity and leapt at the chance to take such a senior role.

It was a bit of a change from her work in the UK but Mrs Lane was able to utilise her experiences to rise to the challenge.

She said: "I went from the stresses here of response times and and horrendous demand to New Zealand, where there is still that demand, but also this massive geography with mountains and cyclones and the threat of tsunamis.

"The biggest I saw here was floods and places being snowed in."

Recently, after more than four years in her role in New Zealand, Mrs Lane was invested as a Member of the Order of St John - an honour signed off by Queen Elizabeth.

She received the honour from Dame Patsy Reddy, the governor-general of New Zealand and St John Prior.

Mrs Lane, who lives with her husband and children in New Zealand, said: "It was lovely - a sense of feeling really valued."

When she speaks to young cadets she tells them the inspiring story of her successful career.