A NUN who travels the world with a two-foot statue of the Virgin Mary has visited Blackpool in a bid to save more souls.

Sister Ruth Augustus travels everywhere with the statue, talking and praying with passers-by.

"I have been travelling round the world for 12 years to over 200 countries. I want to give people love, faith and hope.

"I started reading the prophecies in the Bible about the end times. We can see all around us it's beginning to happen. It's very sad but I believe it," she said.

When she arrives in a town, she heads for shopping malls, supermarkets, bars, pubs, hospitals, nursing homes -- even red light districts.

"I find more people talk to me in the supermarkets or the pubs than they would in the church. I think it's because in the supermarket there's no one else listening and they can tell me all sorts of things."

She admitted the tour has been hard going at times, especially when people tell her about distressing personal problems such as sexual abuse.

And she said there have been times when she would rather be back working for children's charities, which she did for 30 years.

"I do get depressed. I was pushed down two flights of stairs once by a man and I have been shouted and sworn at by drunks.

"But I know most of the people I talk with wouldn't normally pray and they ask me to pray, which I find very worthwhile."

But it seems the Blackpool stop has been something of a highlight. "I believe Lancashire is one of the holiest parts of England. Many of the Catholic martyrs were from Lancashire.

"I love it here in Blackpool I think it's so pretty. I'm normally in slums of Africa and Asia -- being here is like being in paradise."