THE work of a Herefordshire woman in raising the profile of a wartime secret agent has been recognised in the House of Lords.

Baroness Crawley of Edgbaston praised Rosemary Rigby for her dedication in running the Violette Szabo Museum at Wormelow.

Violette joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war and carried out two missions before being captured and taken to a French concentration camp where she was shot in 1945.

She was posthumously awarded the George Cross the following year.

During last week’s Lords debate, Baroness Crawley asked for more recognition to be given to recognise the contribution made to the war effort by women in the SOE.

Meanwhile, later this month the Herefordshire museum will host a party to mark what would have been Violette’s 90th birthday.

A parade of former servicemen and women will make their way to the Wormelow museum from the village park around 1.30pm on June 26.

Visitors are encouraged to bring traditional wartime food such as tinned fruit, Spam and jam sandwiches from 2.30pm.

The church at Much Dewchurch will also ring a peel of bells around 6pm on the evening in tribute.