Anne Kendall signed up to the Women's Land Army in 1946 when she was just 17 and was sent to Desborough to work on a farm.

Mrs Kendall, now 80, soon got stuck into harvesting and haymaking until the demob of servicemen was complete when the Second World War ended.

Now she has received a Government badge in recognition of her work, along with a letter signed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Mrs Kendall, of Rushton Road, Desborough, said: "I was in town one day when I met up with a serviceman and I thought, 'I wouldn't mind going in the forces.'

"It was a spur of the moment thing and I originally wanted to join the Wrens – I hadn't even heard of the Land Army.

"I just wanted to do a different sort of work.

"I was sent to a poultry farm in Pipewell first and then I went into
general farming.

"It was hard work, but it was good.

"A few of us had come from Liverpool and we used to bike from Desborough to wherever we were working."

Mrs Kendall said she had only planned to stay in Desborough for two years but that changed when she met future husband Fred.

She said: "I wanted to go back to Liverpool but there was no work there.

"Fred worked at Cheaney's in Desborough and they had kept his job open
for him while he was serving."

Mrs Kendall said someone sent her a form to apply for the badge and was told all she had to do was fill it in and send it off.

She said: "I'm pleased to have received the award."

The Women's Land Army was set up when the war put a stop to Britain's food imports and the emphasis was on growing more food at home.

The women often worked long hours.

They would look after cattle, plough fields and harvest crops.

By 1944 there were 80,000 women working on the land.

It continued for a number of years after the war ended, until sufficient male agricultural workers returned home to take over the farms.

The Women's Land Army disbanded in October, 1950.