A ROCHDALE woman fasted during the month of Ramadan despite not being religiously obliged to do so.

Lynn Gormley a Chief Bio Medical Scientist at Rochdale Infirmary, works with Nargis Nasreen in the Haematology Department. She kept all the fasts last year and most this year.

"I watched Nargis fast for many years, and she was the only member of the team who was fasting then. I thought it was really difficult for her to do and I really didn't know what it was about."

"For a couple of years previously I said that I would fast but I didn't. Last year I thought I would do it, and talked about possibly fasting a few weeks before Ramadan started. "

Nargis suggested that it was a good time to fast because it was the time of the year when fasts were the shortest.

Lynn awoke every mornign and had a bowl of cereal. at sunset she opened her fast with a bowl of fruit salad and a glass of milk. Despite finding the fasts difficult at first she quickly got used to them.

"For the first two fasts I had a headache, but then enjoyed keeping them. My husband thought I would not last more than five days because he said I hadn't got any will power."

"I decided to keep them all this year. My husband said that he was proud of me. My friends thought I was mad, they couldn't understand why I kept them."

This year Lynn was assisted by three Muslim girls who supported her throughout the month.

The only fasts Lynn missed were four when she went on a short break in Italy at the end of November, when she came back she completed the rest.