A career background as a nanny did not prepare Wendy McNally for the task of having to deliver her friend's premature baby on the bathroom floor.

Mrs McNally, a former pupil at Ledbury Primary School and Newent Community School, said instinct took over when her friend, Sandy Poole, went into labour early on Saturday.

"Ambulance control talked us through," she said. "Sandy's husband, Clive, was shouting up the instructions from downstairs. It was a real conveyor belt and a team effort.

"I got the baby's head in the palm of my hands, then caught his little bum coming out. It was fantastic. I cleared his airways and I was rubbing him like a puppy. I suppose it was instinct.

"I have to say, it was all quite calm, but when the ambulance man arrived, I was shaking like a leaf."

Mrs McNally, who now lives in Ronkswood, Worcester, had taken a party of 11 children on a minibus trip to the Gower Coast when she arrived back after midnight to find that her neighbour and friend was about to give birth.

Mrs McNally had called round to drop off Mrs Poole's six-year-old son, Charlie, who had enjoyed the trip, along with her own children, Billy, aged ten, and Tara, 12.

When Mrs Poole went into sudden labour all 11 children were in the house, but remained calm throughout the drama.

While Mrs McNally's husband, Ted, directed the ambulance, baby Jack, who weighed in at 3lb 2oz, was already well on the way. The total labour time was just 25 minutes.

Jack is still in hospital, and still in an incubator, having been born at 28 weeks. However, he is doing well.

Mrs Poole is now out of hospital and has wasted no time in thanking her friend.

Mrs McNally, whose mother Eileen Fletcher still lives in Ledbury, said: "When she came out of the car and thanked me we both burst into tears."