Selby war veteran Edna Storr put the kettle on to raise money for a national monument to the women of the Second World War.

The former artillery battery gunner, from Cedar Crescent, held a tea and coffee morning on Saturday, at Selby Methodist Church.

With the help of table top and cake stalls, and a raffle, she raised £117 in just two hours towards an appeal to create the first national memorial to the 'forgotten' women who served in the Second World War.

Mrs Storr, 74, also took visitors on a trip down Memory Lane with an exhibition of military memorabilia, which included photographs taken during the war, old newspaper clippings, and cap badges and tunics.

She said: "I'd like to thank all the people in Selby who helped or donated with the fund-raising event.

"It's very important that women's war efforts should also be recognised."

The Queen, herself a former ATS girl, has already agreed to unveil the memorial, which will be erected in the centre of London, and Princess Anne is now a vice- patron of the £75,000 York-based campaign.

Instigated by Major David Robertson, of York's Imphal Barracks, the monument would comprise three bronze sculptures of women in uniform, depicting the women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's Royal Naval Service and the women's Auxiliary Air Force.

There are memorials at St Paul's Cathedral, in London and York Minster to Britain's First World War servicewomen, but none in this country for those who served in the Second World War.

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