A GREEN-FINGERED pensioner has been honoured for her efforts as a "land girl" more than half a century ago.
IRENE Pearce, who lives in Livingston, helped work the land for four years during the Second World War.
The 90-year-old was one of 80,000 women who worked on British farms to ensure a supply of food throughout the conflict.
The daughter of a fi
reman, Mrs Pearce was born in a fire station in the east end of London in 1917.
She developed a love for horticulture when the family moved to a house with a big garden when she was a child.
Her three brothers served in the Army, Navy and Air Force during the war and Mrs Pearce decided to do her bit too.
At the age of 28, she joined the Women's Land Army, working in farms around London and Somerset from 1941 to 1945.
After the war, Mrs Pearce put her love of plants to good use, working as a gardener and florist. She still has a love for flora and fauna, tending to potted plants in Livingston's Peacock Nursing Home.
It was in London that she met her husband, Terry, who was then in the Army and later became a factory worker.
Mr and Mrs Pearce moved to West Lothian 30 years ago, settling in Livingston Village where Mrs Pearce lived until moving to Peacock Nursing Home in Eliburn four years ago.
Nursing Home matron, Wilma Campbell said: "Irene's suffered from Parkinson's for many years, but she hasn't let it hold her back. She goes out once a week to do her own shopping.
"She still has a keen interest in gardening and does all the pot plants around the nursing home. We'll be sitting in the back patio and she'll be re-potting plants."
Livingston MP Jim Devine met with the 90-year-old to formally present her with a Defra-sponsored badge in recognition of her contribution to the Second World War effort.
The badge has been specially designed by the Garter King at Arms and bears the Royal Crown. It shows a gold wheat sheaf on a white background surrounded by a circlet of pine branches and pine cones to indicate the work of both the Land Army and the Timber Corps.
Speaking after the presentation, Mr Devine said: "The tireless work of the Land Girls was so important during World War Two.
"It was a real honour to meet Mrs Pearce and to present her with this badge of commendation.
"It was also fantastic to meet with the staff at Peacock Nursing Home whose hard work, dedication and warmth is so apparent."
Mrs Campbell said Mrs Pearce was delighted to receive the badge.
She said: "She's been dead chuffed about it. She's very proud and says it's very nice to be recognised but feels she didn't really do anything and her brothers serving in the armed forces were the ones doing the hard work.
"She's quite a modest person."
The full article contains 511 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
