HEROES of the Home Guard who kept Britain safe while the army was fighting in the Second World War were honoured in a special event in Worcester.

Discover History hosted its annual Home Guard reunion on Saturday in the Guildhall which included exhibitions about the Worcestershire Home Guard and how the defence of the county was going to be carried out.

Visitors also had the chance to see original weaponry, equipment and uniform along with some members of Discover History who were dressed up as the Home Guard in the Second World War.

There was also a special tea party for war veterans who were members of the Worcestershire Home Guard hosted by the Mayor of Worcester.

Event organiser Paul Harding said the event was one of the best they had run since launching it in 2010.

"It was really good," he said. "The only sad side to it was the veterans, there are now less and less of them which is the sad part of it.

"But there was lots of people coming in who know about Dad's Army. We surprised a lot of people, they couldn't believe how different the Home Guard was from Dad's Army and that's our aim really."

Mr Harding said they managed to dispel the myth of the 'bumbling' image of Dad's Army, which was part of the reason they held the annual event, as well as honouring the war veterans.

"Dad's Army is a fantastic comedy to watch but the Home Guard themselves were a very strong fighting force," he said. "The British army, the navy and the air force were out fighting all over the empire, it would have been people like Captain Mainwaring, Jones, Pike and Wilson that would have had the full force of the German invasion.

"They were brave men."

Plans for next year's event are already in the pipeline and will honour the civil defence in Worcestershire including the Women's Land Army, Fire Watchers, The Observer Core and Air Raid Wardens.