A wartime Wren has been honoured by the service association at the age of 105.
Kath Baines, a resident at the Winchester House Care Home in Wouldham, was invited to the annual meeting of the Women’s Royal Navy Service Association on board HMS President at St Katherine’s Dock in London.
There she was “treated like Royalty” – according to her daughter Linda Pizani-Williams – as the longest-serving member of the association.
Mrs Baines, nee Marsh, joined the Wrens in 1943 and was based initially at Chatham Dockyard for training.
She was then posted to Sheerness to become an anti-aircraft gunner, trying to stop enemy aircraft entering the Thames Estuary.
However, she admits she was “not a very good shot” and so moved into administration instead, making good use of her shorthand-typist skills that she had learnt before the war.
She left the Wrens in 1945 at the end of the war, but has always retained her membership.
At the meeting, the 100 or more members present gave her a standing ovation, which reduced her to tears, and they presented her with a commemoration vase.
She said: “I feel very honoured and proud to have received such a beautiful accolade.
“It was a wonderful experience and brought back some lovely memories.
“I had no idea I was the oldest surviving member, but it was incredibly kind of them to invite me and make me feel so special. I loved my time as a Wren.”
Mrs Baines’ husband Alfred also served during the Second World War. He flew Mosquito fighter/bombers for the RAF. He died in 2008, aged 87.
Born in Dartford, her parents were both in service – her mother as a cook and her father as a groundsman.
She and her husband had four children – Michael, Linda, Ian and Barbara – but Mrs Baines continued to work; first for a Dartford cement company, then for Burroughs Wellcome drug manufacturers and finally for Dartford Probation Service – a job she particularly loved.
She has lived in the care home for three years now but prior to that she had lived independently in Goudhurst Road, Twydall, near Gillingham, for the previous 20 years.
Her daughter said: “She is still as fit as a fiddle and can beat anyone at Scrabble.
“She is amazing. She still knows who everyone is and always asks after members of the family.
“She doesn’t seem to have any concept of how old she is, and she’s not on any medications.
“The staff at the home all love her.”
Liza Burchell is the general manager of Winchester House, where Mrs Baines lives. She said: “We are so proud of Kath. She is a wonderful person and served our country in its hour of need, even if she wasn’t a very good shot!
“We’re so happy that she has been recognised as the longest-serving Wren, it gives us an excuse to make a fuss of her.”
First formed in 1917 during the First World War, the Women’s Royal Naval Service was the women’s branch of the Royal Navy.
It was disbanded in 1919, but then revived in 1939 for the Second World War. It continued until 1993 at which point women were formally integrated with the Royal Navy.
Winchester House Care Home is run by Barchester Healthcare.
