At the age of 73, pensioner Jean Collinson has no intention of putting her feet up and taking it easy. She told Mike Laycock of her experiences in a remote mountain village in Thailand.

HER home was a hut on stilts, entered up a steep ladder. No bed, chair or table, or any other furniture come to that, with just a thin mat to sleep on. At night, temperatures fell several degrees below freezing. By early afternoon, they had soared well into the 30s Celsius.

It was just as well Jean Collinson had spent more than 40 years as a Guide leader in Boston Spa. The resourcefulness, not to mention camping experience, must have come in handy during her stint as a volunteer for the Karen Hilltribes Trust, a York-based international charity.

The trust was set up by Penelope Worsley in memory of her son, Richard, after he died in a road accident, to continue the pioneering work he did in remote Thai villages. It aims to provide clean water, safeguard the traditional tribal skills and improve education.

Jean spent just over two months last winter in Ban Kam Suk, a village of only 13 homes made of bamboo or teak, where the people are subsistence farmers growing rice and vegetables and rearing livestock, including buffalo.

Having been involved in education throughout her career in England, working as both a teacher and a senior college lecturer, she taught English to children in the primary school and, during a special workshop, at a high school ten miles away.

She found the children "very cheerful and absolutely charming."

She said: "Their courtesy and caring to each other as well as adults was mind-blowing. You realised how uncourteous it has become in this country."

On Christmas Day, Jean gave a notebook and a packet of felt pens to each delighted child, who rarely have such luxuries in their own homes.

The food she ate was "rice, rice and more rice, and eggs, eggs and more eggs," along with whatever vegetable happened to be in season. She found the lack of a table very frustrating, and she eventually made her own one by lashing together a door frame and pieces of bamboo.

Most of the charity's volunteers tend to be young, gap-year student types. So what was a 73-year-old OAP doing out in the remote Thai mountain forest?

Jean, a member of the Trefoil Guild, an adult association for people who have been involved in Guiding, heard about the work of the trust when Penelope gave a talk to a Trefoil meeting in York.

She asked to become a volunteer, but was turned down. But after attending another such talk, she asked again. She also revealed how she had previously worked as a volunteer with a tribe in southern India, and she was accepted. "I was absolutely thrilled."

She says she could not have become a volunteer with poor health. "You have to have good health and be fit and adaptable, and also patient and have a sense of humour."

She says the work of the trust is crucially important to the hilltribes, and she enjoyed her experiences so much that she hopes to return next winter.

lFor more information on the Karen Hilltribes Trust, or to make a donation, write to: KHT, Midgley House, Heslington, York YO10 5DX.

Updated: 09:27 Thursday, June 05, 2003