Pat Thomson, 73, works and lives on North Sea oil rigs all around the world. Here is her AMAZING story.

"There’s a lot of fun in the work I do. Although it is hazardous, it is exciting because you have all sorts of different environments to deal with. The lads on the rig are very respectful, because I am so much older and also because I never ask for anything special, though they can be pretty cheeky to me. In the early days, it was a challenge. It definitely wasn’t a female environment then. My title now is a freelance offshore materials and logistics superintendent, it does sound fancy now that I say it out loud, but it's definitely not glamorous.

I work and sleep – there’s not a lot else you can do on a drilling rig. But you have a family atmosphere, because you are living together 24 hours a day, for 21 days at a time. If you didn’t get on with people, it would be a nightmare.

I work very long hours, often 16 hours a day. I can get called out at night when I am sleeping. It’s stressful and tiring, but there’s something challenging about it. Sometimes there can be a situation where we are having a breakdown and the whole rig can shut down, and I have to go and suddenly charter helicopters, get all the equipment flown out. That is quite satisfying.

I left school with no qualifications. When the children were young, I started going to night school and got higher English and maths. Then I got accepted for primary teaching, did that, and then went to BP. I found it male-oriented, so I did something to make me different and did a higher national in business studies through distance learning. Then I decided I was bored again and did the Open University in foundation maths, pure maths, applied maths, physics and engineering. So I’ve got a BSc in maths and engineering.

I feel more tired when I am not working – I tend to sit around and go to bed early – but when I’m offshore, I am in the office by six o’clock in the morning and I’m not in bed till nine or 10 at night. I thrive on that – I don’t know why. My grandchildren say I am crazy, but I’m not one for housework or knitting: I like working.

What an incredibly strong and amazing woman, proving that you can work at ANY age and do anything you set your mind to! : )