THE FUNERAL of an Aberaeron woman who braved the Blitz to deliver petrol to the London docks took place at Aberystwyth Crematorium last week.

Gillian Wilton-Clark, who was 96, is believed to have been the only female firefighter to have been awarded the George Medal during World War Two and even had a fire station named in her honour.

“She was a one-off,” son-in-law Brian Jones, of Llanon, told the Cambrian News. “She lived on her own until she was 90; she was very independent.

“She never spoke about what she did in the war; I married her daughter, Peta, back in the 1970s and she certainly never talked about the war with me.”

Twice-married Mrs Wilton-Clark could look back on some extraordinary experiences during a long and varied life.

As a 14-year-old staying with her naval attache uncle in Berlin around the time of the 1936 Olympics she was harassed by brownshirts because she was wearing lipstick.

In the 1950s she developed a keen interest in rallying, going on to compete at four Monte Carlo Rallies.

In 2003, Mrs Wilton-Clark was among seven surviving medal holders at a Whitehall service where the Queen unveiled a £1m bronze sculpture to commemorate the role of women during World War Two.

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