A FORMER midwife who celebrated VE Day on the streets of London was a guest of honour at the 70th anniversary commemorations.

Norah Pardey, who is 100 years old, delivered around 2,000 babies while World War Two was raging on.

After completing her training at the Royal Victoria and West Hants hospital in Boscombe, she was sent to London City Hospital to work as a midwife there, and then evacuated to Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire.

Despite nightly air raids, which meant the midwives were constantly taking the babies down to the basement, she delivered 2,000 babies between 1940 and 1946. More than 70 years on, she is still in touch with some of these "Brocket babies."

Mrs Pardey, of Namu Road, Winton, remembers being on a training course in London on VE Day and being given leave to go into town and join in the celebrations.

"The sister said 'I'll hold the fort, nobody will go into labour today.' We walked up to the Mall and stood there and who should come out but Princess Elizabeth and Margaret. We were close enough to touch them.

"The atmosphere was absolutely wonderful. Cockneys love a knees up and they had it that day."

MrS Pardey was taken to London at the weekend by friend Tim Reeves and attended the service at Westminster Abbey to mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day and to Green Park afterwards, where she met the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall Prince Charles and Camilla and Prime Minister David Cameron.

Proudly wearing her late father James Hern's World War One medals, she joined in the parade around London and was cheered and congratulated by well-wishers.

"I have never known anything like it," she said. "It was absolutely wonderful. Everyone was so happy, everyone wanted to shake your hand and there were many people who said 'if it wasn't for people like you, I would not be here today.'

"I was there remembering the matron and sister at City London Hospital, who are the people who were being honoured on Sunday, not me. They made me what I am now.

"It was just incredible. People are not so patriotic these days but it made you proud to be British."