A PENSIONER has spoken of her day out with the Queen as recognition for serving in the Women’s Land Army (WLA) during the Second World War.

Irene Atkinson, 85 from Hutton Rudby, near Stokesley, North Yorkshire, travelled to Buckingham Palace to mark the 50th anniversary of the formal disbandment of the WLA, on October 21, 1950.

Mrs Atkinson was representing the North Riding Regiment of the WLA and was joined by other surviving members at the event.

She had lunch at the Royal Opera House before being served tea at Buckingham Palace.

Mrs Atkinson said: “We got up to all sorts while we were down there. We sure were a bunch of very fit older ladies.

“There was a huge staircase as we walked into the palace and my daughter said we best take the lift. I said I will get up that staircase if it kills me, and sure enough I did. I think we are a very different generation.

“It was an absolutely wonderful day – the palace’s beauty is beyond description.

“I was there representing the North Riding Regiment of the Women’s Land Army. They gave us bangers and mash for lunch and joked that it must remind us of the old days during the war.

“I never saw a sausage during the war because rationing was so tight, but I wouldn’t expect them to know that though. It must be hard for them to comprehend.

“Four ounces of this and six ounces of that means nothing to the younger generation.

“Although it was hard at times, I wouldn’t change a thing about my time in the service.

We used to work very long hours but it was for a noble cause, nobody moaned.

We just got on with it.”

She added: “I sat with Princess Alexandra. She was supposed to leave early, but she stayed late as she was enjoying hearing our stories about the old days so much.

“The Queen was on the top table and music was provided by the Welsh Guards, everything was perfect and the food was beautiful, certainly much better than my days in the Women’s Land Army.”

The WLA was set up in June 1939 to help on farms, increase the amount of food grown in Britain and replace male agricultural workers, who were away fighting.

At its peak in 1943, there were 80,000 Land Girls carrying out everything from hoeing, ploughing and hedging to lifting potatoes, lambing and looking after poultry.