AMY had to raise more than £3,000 in order to travel to northern Vietnam with her school friends, and she did this without any help from her parents.

"She raised the whole lot," said her father Derek.

"We could have given her the three grand, but that isn't what this is about."

The 17-year-old started fundraising 16 months ago and searched for any type of work that could get her a step closer to her trip.

Amy started working in Safeway, Temple End, High Wycombe on the deli counter, and in The Polecat pub in Prestwood, which is just up the road from the family home, helping to serve meals and clean up.

Poignantly, Lewis had also worked in The Polecat and there is a plaque on the wall there in his memory.

Amy and her friend, Helen, who lives nearby, also did a mailshot round the village offering to do jobs, like baby-sitting, watering gardens and taking dogs for walks; and the money gradually came in.

Liz Duffy, headteacher at Wycombe High School, said: "The expedition cost more than £3,000 and over the last 15 months she raised every penny of it herself, by working and baby-sitting.

"In her lesson, the day before she left for Vietnam, she was very excited about the prospect. She felt really prepared and was ready to start her travels."

Fundraising also went on at school, via discos and sale of special t-shirts.

Other pupils from Wycombe High School, who were also going on the expedition to Vietnam, appeared in the Bucks Free Press in June last year telling of their attempts to raise funds for the trip.