A WOMAN who served in Egypt during the Suez Canal campaign 50 years ago has just received a medal for her services.

Miss Catherine Simpson, 73, of Mount, was one of only 100 women based in Fayed, Egypt, with the Women's Royal Army Corps during 1951-1954.

She has just received the Suez Canal Zone Medal, a new medal awarded to members of the armed forces who served in the area in the first Suez emergency.

The first recipient received the medal only in March this year, following a campaign by veterans, sometimes known as the `forgotten army'.

Miss Simpson, who worked in pay and administration, said: "I'm pleased to have received the medal at last.

"I celebrated my 21st birthday out there but we were confined to camp because of the crisis.

"I never saw any of the sights but returned to Egypt in 1983 for a holiday with my niece, where we saw the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings."

A terror campaign was waged against British troops prior to the Suez Canal crisis in 1956.

About 200,000 men and women who served in Egypt during the crisis are eligible for the medal, but only 34,000 have so far applied.

Miss Simpson, of Roman Close, is believed to be the first woman in the district to have received the medal.

She was born in Durham and

joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1948, completing her Army service in 1962 at Edinburgh Castle.

She went on to work in the prison service, then in the drawing office at Hopkinsons Valves, Birkby, and for insurance company General Accident.

Miss Simpson spent seven years in the Army Recruitment office in Kirkgate, Huddersfield and was there when the building was petrol bombed during a terrorist attack in 1972.