FIREFIGHTERS have paid tribute to a popular member of their fire station by holding an unofficial guard of honour.

Fire engines and the latest generation of recruits lined the road as Eileen Vernalls' coffin passed the Droitwich station on Monday, January 9.

Despite being a native Liverpudlian, she settled in Droitwich after meeting her husband at a fire training centre in 1964.

The 73-year-old adopted Worcestershire as her 'home county' and joined Droitwich Fire Station as an assistant cook and cleaner in 1988.

Mark Preece, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service area commander, remembers Mrs Vernalls from when joined the station as a recruit.

Edward Vernalls, Mrs Vernalls' son, 47, said: "When her car passed the fire station on the day of her funeral Mark Preece had asked the station if the training centre or operational crew could have some appliances on the forecourts.

"Not everyone gets that sort of treatment. Quite a number of firefighter staff who knew my mother were there as well.

"When she wasn’t working she also helped out on the bar in the aptly named The Bell and Engine.

"As well as working on the bar she also helped out with the stations community open days and day trips."

She joined the auxiliary fire service in 1963 and met her husband, Alan, at the national fire training college in Moreton-in-Marsh.

"She would have been operating the switchboards and my father, who was from Devon, was training to become a firefighter," her son said.

The grandmother died on November 11 after encountering medical complications as a result of a fall at her home in Hampton Road, Droitwich.

She was a loving mother who always thought about others before herself and believed in community spirit, according to her family.

Alan Vernalls has thanked those who attended her funeral for their generosity in helping to raise £290 for The Fire Fighters Charity and Midlands Air Ambulance.

She is survived by her son, Edward, her daughter, Diane, and her two grandchildren, Thomas and Chloe.