RETIRED paediatrician Dr Ann Rudwick has died at the age of 90.

She moved to the Isle of Wight about 25 years ago, having had a varied and interesting life in different parts of the world.

She was born and brought up in Hong Kong, where her mother was a doctor, but with the outbreak of war in 1939 and after the death of her father she and her twin sister Jeannie moved with their mother to Nairobi in Kenya where she stayed for the next six years.

In 1948, she attended Durham University to study botany, but in her final year realised she wished to continue in the family tradition and train as a doctor. She enrolled at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

She soon found her primary interest was in looking after sick children and, after her marriage to husband Alan, she travelled to Ghana and worked in the Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital in Accra.

She later joined the department of child health at the newly formed Medical School of the University of Ghana, where she specialised in paediatrics and worked until she and her husband left Ghana in 1977.

For five years they lived in Spain but then returned to England, to Richmond, where Dr Rudwick continued to work with children in the community. This involved fostering and adoption work and looking after children in public care.

After retirement, Dr Rudwick and her husband moved to the Isle of Wight, where she quickly built up an extensive and close circle of friends who shared her interests, which included travel, bridge, opera, ballet and theatre.

She forged strong links with All Saints Church, Ryde.

One of her interests was classical music and she attended a number of music courses led by Terry Barfoot, and was always on hand to assist with the arrangements for the visiting Sinfonietta when it came to Ryde.

Another major interest was her garden, and as a keen botanist, she planted a number of unusual shrubs.

Dr Rudwick, who lived in Ryde, was widowed a few years ago.

In recent months she cared for her twin sister until her family and friends became increasingly concerned about her own health. She is survived by her twin.

A funeral service will be held at the Isle of Wight Crematorium.