From the huge lorry blast in Fengate in the '80s which left a fireman dead and more than 80 people injured, to the horrific A1 coach crash in 2000 in which three young air cadets died, she has been at the sharp end of medicine in Peterborough and has seen it all.

So Miss Kendrick – who is lead nurse at Peterborough District Hospital's accident and emergency department, and the hospital trust's emergency planning lead – was the ideal choice to travel to South Africa and train medics in preparation for major incidents ahead of the World Cup in 2010.

The 47-year-old went to Cape Town and Johannesburg, leading a team training hospital staff in dealing with everything from a terrorist attack to a train crash, as well as a disaster in a packed football stadium.

It will spring into action whenever the hospital needs to mobilise extra resources.

She taught medics the strategy for dealing with a crisis both at the scene and in the hospital.

South Africa is the latest country to benefit from her expertise – she has also travelled to Cyprus, Italy, Sweden and Portugal, as well as training hundreds of staff all over the UK.

Miss Kendrick made the two-week trip as a volunteer with medical education charity Advanced Life Support Group.

"I love the work," said Celia. "Apart from anything else, it has enabled me to see parts of the world that I wouldn't otherwise have seen.

"The people were great and so keen to learn.

"It was a FIFA initiative with the EU paying for us to out there. It covers any football stadia disaster, but the training covered all the generic major emergencies.

"This is one of the most exciting and dynamic areas to work in.

"You don't know what will happen every day."

She said the extremes of poverty and wealth were a shock.

"On one hand there were the designer shops and luxury yachts of Cape Town, on the other, the shanty town in Soweto that we drove through was packed with five million people," she said.

"I have never seen such extreme poverty, and we had to be chaperoned everywhere for our own safety."

She will be returning at the end of the year to monitor the training scheme she and her fellow instructors have put in place.

She said it was the Fengate explosion that sparked her interest in this specialised field.

She said: "A lorry carrying explosives to a fireworks factory exploded. It caused a major incident, with one death and 86 casualties.

"I remember it was the first incident that got me passionate about emergencies and planning."

She said she would go to the 2010 tournament – but only if David Beckham was playing.