The Salvation Army honours 103-year-old volunteer Grace Friar from Berwick on VE Day

Grace Friar worked at a naval hospital in Aberdeen at the time caring for wounded service personnel. She later became the youngest petty officer in Scotland at 21.

She has never stopped helping others and continues to volunteer with The Salvation Army in Berwick, sorting donated clothes at the church and charity’s Harvestfield Furniture Project in the town.

To celebrate Grace’s courage and resilience, The Salvation Army hosted a special VE Day ‘street party’ at Harvestfield earlier today (Thursday) – featuring songs, refreshments and a Q&A with her and pupils from Berwick St Mary's CE First School.

One night during an air raid, a bomb landed just 20 yards away and the blast knocked her off her feet. Remarkably, she has the Red Cross card she was carrying that night, burn marks from the explosion still visible.

Grace recalled: “The planes flew so low. I could see the faces of the pilots.”

She also recalled the heartbreak of seeing a young boy killed during a raid and later, being on duty when her brother Thomas was carried in on a stretcher having been shot. Sadly, he died of a blood clot before the war ended.

On VE Day in 1945, while millions celebrated in the streets, Grace stayed on duty. She said: “I was exhausted. I couldn’t rejoice – I just sat in the corner thinking about those who wouldn’t be going home.”

It was that courage that inspired Grace to join The Salvation Army. When her husband John died in 2003, she went along to a coffee morning and felt so at home that she became a member of the church.

She said: “They were short of staff so I volunteered to help out and in 2012 I began working at The Salvation Army’s new Harvestfield Furniture Project, where I continue to work every Friday.”

The Harvestfield Furniture Project is located at Units 1-4 Marrtree Business Park, Windmill Way East, Ramparts Business Park, TD15 1TU, telephone 01289 332875. It is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 4pm.