Palace honour for land girls

Two Shropshire women who worked as land girls in World War Two have been honoured 60 years later with a visit to Buckingham Palace.

Nora Morgan, 81, of Ellesmere, and Ella Kimball Evans, 83, of Critftins, were among land girls and lumber Jills who enjoyed tea with the Queen and other royals including the Duke of Edinburgh and Duchess of Cornwall.

They were part of a group of about 90 veterans who sat down with the royals in the palace's ballroom. The friends, who were given a makeover by the show This Morning ahead of yesterday's event, said they were delighted and amazed by the experience.

Mrs Evans said: "The whole day has been wonderful we couldn't believe the Queen was here - it was really surreal, we were so near to her. We even loved the dainty sandwiches and the flowers on the table were marvellous."

The pair, who became friends more than 60 years ago, said they found the work in the fields of Shropshire and north Wales back-breaking and tough, but character-building and something they remember happily.

Mrs Evans, a grandmother-of-nine originally from Stockport, said: "It made us independent and made us stand on our own two feet. We enjoyed it because we were young and now we look back with a sense of nostalgia but the friendships we made during our time were all absolutely wonderful."

She worked with Mrs Morgan between 1946 and 1949 when they were based at Queensbridge, near Overton-on-Dee. While at Queensbridge the women, both widows, met their husbands. They worked in the fields for 15 shillings a week.