THE forgotten "Cinderellas" of war time have been honoured at a special ceremony at Valentines Mansion.

Women from across the borough who worked for the Land Army and Timber Corps during World War Two, came together to swap stories and photographs at a special reception with Redbridge Mayor Lorraine Sladden.

Having only received their medals from Gordon Brown six months ago for the hard manual labour they took on while their male counterparts were shipped out to the battle field, the women were delighted to finally received the recognition they deserve.

Vera Malin, who was posted to various farms in Essex when she was just 19, said: "We did work jolly hard so when the Mayor invited us we were only too pleased to go.

"They called us the Cinderellas of service because we were the only group that never got any thanks.

"We cut down trees and got filthy rotten dirty."

She added: "It was great to meet some of the other girls and I'd love to meet some more."