BEING dragged out of bed at dawn, ambushed by soldiers, and sent out on night patrol gave a mother and daughter team a taste of Army life they won't forget.

School nurse Valerie Raine and her 22-year-old daughter Joanne, from Tenters Street, Bishop Auckland, were among 50 people who spent two days at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, with the Territorial Army.

Joanne, a cadet nurse at Stanhope Community Hospital, won the best female award in Exercise Executive Stretch, an annual event organised by Supporting Britain's Reservists and Employers to demonstrate TA activities to employers.

Joanne said: "I have been thinking about joining the TA so I was pleased to have the chance to do this."