IT was a far cry from the warm night air of Madrid as 12 Spanish nurses stepped off the plane at a chilly Manchester Airport and boarded a coach bound for Blackburn.

But the reception was anything but frosty for the group who arrived in the UK yesterday, part of a 83-strong contingent of trained and qualified Spanish nurses recruited to ease the NHS staff shortage in the North West.

The group will undergo a three-month cultural adaptation programme and will be trained in technical language skills before starting work on the wards, where they will be monitored by NHS nurses.

Isabel Liebana Ruiz and boyfriend Oscar Serrano Oria are from Alcala de Henares, a town 20km from Madrid. They are two of the twelve nurses who will be based at Blackburn Royal Infirmary and both will work in the Intensive Care Unit. The couple visited the south of England for two weeks earlier in the year but this will be their first visit to Blackburn, their home for the next two years.

"I have heard of the football team but I do not know the name," said Isabel, 26, who was shocked to hear it had snowed in East Lancashire yesterday morning. "In winter in Madrid you can still feel the sun," she added.

"I am a little nervous because I don't know about the life here but I am very excited. I will miss friends and family but it is going to be a great experience.

"It is very important to see other cultures and other ways of life and different ways of working."

Oscar, 25, added: "I was searching for something like this for many years. I met a friend, who is also here, who told me about the interviews and I thought it was a great idea.

"It is a good opportunity. In Spain there are not lot of jobs. The introduction programme sounds interesting and it made me feel comfortable about coming here.

"In my other job I have been more involved in surgery, but I really want to work in intensive care. Here I will get a chance to get nearer to the patient for a longer time.

"I am also looking forward to seeing lots of green land and while I'm here and I want to learn to play guitar. I never had the chance to learn at home."

The Spanish nurses will work on three shifts, from 8.45pm to 7.45am, or from 7.30am to 3.30pm, or from 1pm to 9pm.

The group will visit the hospital wards on Sunday and followed by familiarisation trip around Blackburn later in the week.