Things have turned out great for veterans as they’ve been given a free helping hand by a material girl from Petersfield.

Tanya Wilkinson deserves a badge of honour as the owner of Twillys clothing and alteration shop on Chapel Street is helping veterans to turn out with tip top uniform.

The independent shopkeeper changes insignia or badges on the uniform or blazers of ex-service personnel for free. Working with uniform can be challenging, but she offers the service all year round as a thank you to those defending our freedoms.

She said: “Most needs to be done by hand and it’s hard to get the needles through the badges.

“You need to keep everything as neat as possible so the stitches don’t show. Also, because of their training and the way they’ve been drilled they want it to be spot on.”

She added: “Remembrance is everything to me – it’s the only time I would not want to be anywhere else; I need to be near the services and parades.

“Petersfield is the perfect town for it and I like to put on a display.”

Tanya also showed her support for the armed forces last Thursday (May 8) during the town’s VE Day 80 celebrations by displaying a “thank you veterans” flag, although not quite as big as the one on the Petersfield bookshop roof.

She said: “The veterans feel appreciated, they can see that people are aware of what they’ve done in their service for our country.”

Meanwhile, the St Peter’s Church Bell Ringers rang Rounds, Call Changes and Grandsire Triples last Thursday evening as part of the VE Day 80 national commemorations.

The performance echoed the sounds that swept across the country in 1945 when the church bells rang to signal the end of the conflict.

(Twillys reporting by Jo Gray)