TRIBUTE has been paid to a former Canary Girl who has died at the age of 102.

Nancy Evans worked at Rotherwas Royal Ordnance Factory as a teenager having moved to Hereford from South Wales with her family. She became very ill after contracting toxic jaundice and was treated in hospital.

In July 1942, when the Germans bombed Rotherwas, Nancy vividly recalled seeing the plane overhead and a bomb hitting a nearby water tower. She was blown backwards into the rose bush at her home in Hinton and entertained us all with how she was covered in prick marks.

She was fetched from home to help recover the remains of the people killed in the bombing, an experience that stayed with her throughout her life.

A born performer, Nancy was one of Rotherwas Together's first Canary Girls to feature on radio, television and in the newspapers and was a brilliant interviewee. She met BBC journalist Kate Adie on a number of occasions and took great pleasure in telling one camera operator that "don't you worry, I've done loads of interviews"

She was presented to the Countess of Wessex and to the Lord Lieutenant and was determined to attend as many commemoration events as she could.

Nancy died on Remembrance Sunday at the age of 102. She was being cared for in hospital and was still laughing and singing until the end.

Rotherwas Together secretary Nicola Goodwin said: "Every visit to her home would be filled with hilarity and I will forever remember her beautiful accent and mischievous laugh.

"On behalf of Rotherwas Together, thank you to Chris Chappell and to Mandy Evans from the Kindle Centre for assisting Nancy to tell her story to so many people."