Nell to wed at end of the year

Glamour girl Nell McAndrew confirmed today that she is to marry her long-term boyfriend - and they will be tying the knot before the end of the year.

Nell, 30, said: "We are getting married - I am really happy. By the start of next year I will be 'Mrs'. We are going to get married in December, although we haven't decided on the exact date.

"We want to get married on a beach in the sunshine. It is going to be a quiet wedding, we don't want anything big."

Nell and boyfriend Paul Hardcastle, 35, have been together for five years.
She said there had not been an official proposal, they just decided to get married.

"He didn't have to propose, he knew the answer would be yes," she said.

"I always knew that we would be together."

There was no sign of an engagement ring as Nell revealed her marriage plans when she helped to officially open a new national laboratory to diagnose the rare inherited skin disorder Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).

The state-of-the-art laboratory at St Thomas' Hospital in south London is the only one of its kind in the UK. The Department of Health has provided funding of £240,000 for equipment for the new lab, and another £85,000 has come from Guy's and St Thomas' Charitable Foundation.

It will carry out a range of tests to diagnose EB quickly and help nursing staff provide the best possible treatment for babies born with EB.

Some 5,000 people in the UK are living with EB, a painful genetic skin condition which causes blistering of the skin. EB is fatal in the most severe cases, but even in its mildest form causes lifelong disability and pain.

EB hit the headlines earlier this year when the Channel 4 documentary The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off documented the life and death of EB sufferer Jonny Kennedy, 36, from Northumberland.

Nell befriended Jonny and raised £40,000 for the charity DebRA - which provides support and funding research into the condition - by running the London Marathon earlier this year.

"The courage of Jonny and many other people like him who are living with EB is an inspiration," Nell said today.

"I am delighted to support not only the great work that DebRA does but also this new lab which will enable the experts at St Thomas' to help diagnose the condition."