A well-loved Milland woman will be joining in with the Queen’s birthday celebrations this year – by celebrating her own 90th birthday.

Joan Dodd, who has lived in Milland for more than 50 years, is due to enjoy her own party on August 19, at the nursing home she recently moved to in Hillbrow, Liss.

Born in Wolverhampton in 1926, Miss Dodd worked as a young woman on a farm near Rugby, where she picked up her cooking, gardening and driving skills, which she retained into old age.

She joined the Women’s Land Army during the Second World War and became a Land Girl from February 1944 until September 1950.

Joan remembered: “One of the reasons I joined was because they gave you free clothes. We only had coupons for the bare minimum at the time and I got a coat, wellies, some long-sleeved jerseys, two shirts, trousers and a hat.”

Her services were honoured with a medal and a letter from the Queen stating “your unsparing efforts at a time when victory of our cause depended on the utmost use of the resources of our land, have earned for you the country’s gratitude”.

As the prospect of war became increasingly likely, the government wanted to increase the amount of food grown in Britain.

In order to grow more food, more help was needed on the farms and so the government set up the Women’s Land Army in June 1939 and by 1944 it had more than 80,000 members.

Always an independent woman, Miss Dodd, who never married, moved to Milland, where she joined the horticultural society and took sewing classes in the village hall.

By her own admission, her best years were spent living in the village, where she took care of a family and their children, acting as housekeeper and nanny, doing all the cooking and gardening.

When the family moved away from Milland, they rewarded Miss Dodd by giving her Primrose Cottage as a thank you for her good services, and which became her home for 35 years.

A keen animal lover, she took care of horses, dogs and especially cats, and she enjoyed tending to her own garden as well as the great outdoors.

Her Sunday roasts and cakes were legendary and she remembers baking for many village events.

Miss Dodd was a keen tennis player, a sport she learned and became good at when she was at school, and she also enjoyed a number of other sports.

She still loves horse racing, keeping up with the news by reading a paper every day, has always voted and indulges in watching her favourite soap, Coronation Street, on a state-of-the-art television set.

Joan has always been a fan of the Royal Family and its pageantry.

Being the same age as the Queen, she remembers watching the Royal wedding on television on November 20, 1947, when Princess Elizabeth was only 21 years of age, as well as her coronation on June 2, 1953, and Princess Diana’s state funeral on September 6, 1997.

Miss Dodd, who only recently was forced to give up her outdoor lifestyle after breaking both hips, believes she has had a good life, which she puts down to eating good, homegrown food and keeping both mind and body active.