Sutton Coldfield's 105-year-old WAAF veteran Joan Langley honoured at Remembrance concert

A 105-year-old Sutton Coldfield woman who spent the Second World War defending Birmingham's skies has been honoured with a special presentation at a sold-out Remembrance concert in her home town.

Joan Langley served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) from 1940 to 1945, mainly on barrage balloon defence. The huge tethered balloons were flown to force enemy aircraft higher and spoil their aim, and her work helped protect Birmingham, the Black Country, Coventry, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

On Saturday she received the presentation from a deputy lieutenant, one of the King's representatives in the county, during the concert at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. Speaking afterwards, she said the recognition had been wonderful and surprising.

"The best time of my life"

Mrs Langley, who says she can remember things from when she was four years old, looks back on her years in uniform with real affection.

"It was the best time of my life. It was wonderful companionship," she told the BBC.

"I've told the cadets if they go in the forces and they take to it, they'll have friends for life.

"From the top to the bottom, everybody on my unit was smashing."

A wedding on D-Day, and a night before the Blitz

Her wartime story has some remarkable moments. She and her husband missed D-Day because her WAAF officer insisted their wedding should go ahead, without either of them knowing it had been scheduled at the same time as the invasion. It left her puzzled about the extra men who kept arriving at RAF Wythall and living in tents.

She was also evacuated on Winston Churchill's instructions the night before the Coventry Blitz, as part of a balloon defence team that he felt could not be lost in the German raid.

Still busy at 105

Mrs Langley did not retire from her housekeeping work until 2018, when she was 97. Since then she has thrown herself into local veterans' affairs, including encouraging veterans and war widows to avoid social isolation.

Saturday's presentation is the latest in a run of recognition. In May she had high tea with Birmingham's Lord Mayor at the Council House to celebrate her 105th birthday. Over the summer she received a letter of thanks from Sir David Jason, in his role as honorary vice-patron of the RAF Charitable Trust.

A former military musician who played the trumpet and bugle, she has also been sent a special recording of her favourite wartime song, "Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer", by RAF Music, which is based at RAF Northolt.

Remembrance in Sutton Coldfield

The honour comes as Birmingham prepares for Remembrance Sunday on 8 November, when services will be held at war memorials across the city. For the audience at the town hall, the chance to applaud someone who served from the first year of the war to the last was a rare and moving one.

Her story was shared by the Sutton Coldfield Heritage Network, which provided photographs of the presentation.