AT first glance, it could be a scene from a wartime officers' mess.

A trio, dressed Andrews Sisters-style in khaki uniforms, belt out 1940s swing favourites on the stage as a sea of Union Jack flags wave in unison.

But look a closer and you see that the flag wavers are all women and most are white-haired.

It has been more than 50 years since many of them donned similar uniforms and served their country during the Second World War.

But when members of the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC) met for their annual reunion at the Marton Hotel and Country Club, in Middlesbrough, it felt like no time at all.

Laughter rings out around the ballroom as they recount how inexperienced they were, at 17, when they signed up to the Auxiliary Territorial Service (now WRAC).

"We were young and didn't think about the dangers," said Victoria Radford, 80, of Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

"The doodle bugs came down and you had to build trenches around your huts," recalled Connie Tyson Beat, 79, originally of Darlington. "I got fed up with getting out of bed so I slept in my uniform."

Some of the women drove ambulances, some worked as clerks and others as spotters and height-finders, who helped the gunners hit their targets.

Sheila Pantin, 79, also of Harrogate, was based in Germany after the war, rehabilitating Nazi concentration camp prisoners.

"It was a worthwhile thing we did but we saw some awful sights," she said. "I was straight out of school, a real greenhorn, and it was a challenge, but there was such comradeship."