A DORSET woman who served as a land girl during the Second World War and lost her husband during the conflict has celebrated her 100th birthday.

Noreen Craig, of Corfe Mullen, became a centenarian on Sunday, April 24 and celebrated the occasion with her family and friends.

Born in 1922, Noreen lived in Stourton Caundle as a young girl where her mother and father owned Chaldecott's Village Post Office and General Store.

The family soon moved to Boundary Lane in St. Leonards where Noreen went to school in St. Ives, and later married her first husband Alfred.

While in her early twenties during the Second World War, Noreen worked as a land girl in Ringwood while also helping her father-in-law with his milk round from Fir Grove Farm in St. Leonards.

As part of the Women's Land Army, land girls like Noreen did a wide range of jobs during the war. Duties included milking cows, managing poultry, ploughing, gathering crops, digging ditches, and carrying out farm maintenance work.

She became a war widow in 1945 having lost her husband just before the end of the war leaving her with her son Ray.

Almost 80 years later, Noreen enjoyed a tea party to celebrate her 100th birthday with her son Ray and daughter-in-law Diane, her daughter Jane, her three grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, as well as more family and friends.