WARTIME Land Girls were officially recognised for their contribution to the Home Front at a special cathedral ceremony today.

Hundreds of former members from the Women's Land Army and Timber Corps from across the North West travelled to Blackburn for the service.

Joan Gaskill, 83, of Highfield Avenue, Burnley, said she was proud of her time as a Land Girl.

She said: “I joined the land army when I was 17 and found myself thrashing in the countryside when I was used to a life in Greater Manchester.

“I have such great memories of that time. It was serious business but we all had fun as well.

" don’t know any of the people at the service but it is good to meet people who had the same experiences as me and to swap stories.”

Dorothy Fletcher, 84, moved to the Ribble Valley during the Second World War from Stockport and drove tractors in the land army.

She said: “I was billeted to Billington and really enjoyed the work.

"I used to drive a tractor just like the one that is here at the cathedral.”

Planned by the Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, Lord Shuttleworth, and the Dean of Blackburn, the Very Rev Christopher Armstrong, the service at Blackburn Cathedral marked the wartime contribution of the Women's Land Army and Timber Corps.

It follows last year's presentation of medals to former members of the Women's Land Army.

Lord Shuttleworth said: “These ladies made an important contribution to the war effort and it will be a pleasure to meet them and pay tribute to their work.”

Mayors and Mayoresses from councils across Lancashire and other dignitaries also attended.

During the Second World War, as hundreds of thousands of British men joined up to fight the Nazis, there was a shortage of people to work the land and “stoke the boilers” of Britain's war effort.

It was the nation's young women who stepped into the breach.

Only in recent years has the contribution they made begun to be officially recognised.

Ellen Hill, who now lives in Blackpool, also worked the land.

She added: “I enjoyed every minute of it. There was so much variation and always lots of laughs.”