“I think I was one of the lucky ones. I can remember coming to town with Mum and Dad in a sulky and horse and going visiting family and friends in the sulky when I was little.

“I remember the excitement in the family when Dad bought his first car, a big 1924 Chevrolet with huge, deep leather seats and a running board.

“He taught me to drive that car. I had my licence at 17.

“I’ve never regretted being a member (of Red Cross).

“I’ve made lots of lovely friends. I was involved with most of the activities that Red Cross ran during the years.

“One of the exercises I enjoyed doing was to prepare an evacuation plan for the people of Perth, in case the war reached our Western Shores.

“My job was to survey the Winnejup area. I got a wonderful result, but fortunately we didn’t have to put it into action.

“I used to help with the catering. We always had a big activity in March, this was our major fund-raiser.

“I will never forget helping to cater for the pig sale held down on the banks of the Blackwood River. It was very open air, with no conveniences there. You had to have a sense of humour to enjoy your work while you were there.

“This was in the 1950s, there used to be cattle pens up on the slope further up, but the pigs were always on the edge of the river.

“You had to be there to realise how horrible the smell was but the stockmen were lovely to work with. There was a big copper outside and a man called Draper always used to make sure the water in it was boiling for tea by the time we got there.

“There was one open shelter, but the heat, the dust and the smell, those days were really quite something.

“Sometimes we used to run a big stall to fund raise on Dale’s Corner, which is now the 1896 Café. That was a very draughty place.

“We also used to cater for weddings and functions including Lodge dinners, and we made Christmas cakes to sell. My husband used to wonder if he was going to have a cake left behind as they went so fast out the door for the Red Cross.

“We were also involved with the RSL on Anzac days and we still do morning tea for them to help out,” she said.

During this period, Lesley was also very involved with the blood bank collections, while president of the local Red Cross for a few years.

The Red Cross had the annual Red Cross Sunday, a service which alternated between churches in the town, “I used to enjoy that service, as did the many people who attended. The churches were always packed,” Lesley said.

“Red Cross day was held nationally in May and for two consecutive years Bridgetown had the honour of having the first baby born on this day.

“Officials from HQ in Perth came down to Bridgetown and presented the mothers with a beautiful layette and a certificate. So that was quite exciting. We never knew when the officials could make it to Bridgetown, so I used to host the mothers and babies in my home in Nelson Street and Doctor Jones used to attend as well as the matron from the hospital and they presented the awards to the families for us.

“There were a lot of the things which Red Cross used to do, like driving people to hospital, the doctors or shopping, but these jobs have been taken over by the Silver Chain now,” she said.

“I also used to deliver meals to people who needed help but the wheel has turned now and I am receiving them.”

Lesley spent a lot of time working as a volunteer in the Tourist Bureau until her sight started to fail and she had trouble writing receipts. “I was fascinated learning about my home district which I thought I knew well, until I started in the bureau, then I found out hundreds of things I didn’t know.”

Lesley has also belonged to the hospital auxiliary (she is still an active member), church, golf, tennis and croquet. She is also a life member of the Bridgetown Agricultural Society.

“Bridgetown is my love, I just love it here,” she said. “I have travelled a lot overseas as well as around Australia, but I always look forward to returning home to Bridgetown. “I feel my family roots are so deep here. My grandfather Arthur Blechynden was born at Bridgedale and married to Clara Chapman. He was one of the 13 children born there to Elizabeth and John Blechynden.

“My grandparents were married in Bridgetown in the 1800s. My parents were married in St Paul’s Church in 1916. Lou and I were married there in 1941 and I was baptised and confirmed there.

“Two of our three daughters were married there. I’ve now got seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.”

Asked about funny incidents, she recalled: “My father was fond of telling the story of when he was courting my mother. She was living at Lowlands, which stood where the ambulance station is now. Granny wasn’t well on one occasion so he offered to milk the cow for her. But he couldn’t get near the cow because she was trying to kick him. So he eventually put Granny’s long skirt on and the cow let him milk her.

“He used to go courting mother in the sulky and horse, and when he went to go home one day he found the horse was one side of the fence and the sulky the other.

“It turned out his brothers-in-law to be had played a trick on him, put the shafts through the fence and re-harnessed the horse.”

Lesley said she was so pleased that Red Cross is still a live organisation in Bridgetown which is thanks to the dedicated local committee. “I believe the early members of the Bridgetown Red Cross branch would be so proud of our organisation, which is in it’s 95th year for keeping going for so long, and I hope it will continue to flourish in the future.

“It is lovely to think that the prayer used now at the start of each of the Red Cross meetings is the same prayer which was used when I first joined 70 years ago.”

At a special presentation in Perth, Australian Red Cross WA executive director Steve Joske presented Lesley Doust with a medal and a letter from the state chairman Ian Anson.