A swimming teacher from Marlow who was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours says she was so surprised she thought the phone call was a hoax.

Christina Fonfe, 65, was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to teaching women and teenage girls to swim in Sri Lanka.

The instructor, who had previously taught swimming to children in Marlow, left her life in England behind in order to give relief to tsunami-surviving women and teenage girls by teaching them to swim.

Mrs Fonfe said she was "bowled over" when she received a call asking if she would accept the medal.

She said: "I thought it was a hoax. I was thinking ‘is this a joke?’

"It is down to the courage of the women to learn that gives me the ability to teach. Swimming is a life skill that everyone is entitled to have. I have so enjoyed, and still enjoy, teaching people to float."

Mrs Fonfe launched the Women’s Swimming Project in Sri Lanka in 2005, after she saw the devastating television images of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

The project recently celebrated ten uninterrupted years of teaching four and a half thousand women and teenage girls to swim.

She says that 80 per cent of those who drowned in the tsunami were women and children who could not swim as it is not a priority to learn when growing up.

She said: "There is a huge challenge in persuading people to swim to start with."

To donate to the project visit: www.mydonate@bt.com.