THE heroism of more than seven million women during the Second World War is being celebrated through a thought-provoking exhibition.

Ripon Cathedral is hosting the Raise Your Hats event to mark the tenth anniversary of the first time women's role in the conflict was nationally recognised, with the unveiling of a monument in Whitehall, featuring 17 sets of clothing.

Alongside a war-themed floral hat festival, the display showcases letters and photos from children in North Yorkshire about their great-grandmothers, to shed new light on the efforts of women during he war, together with thank you letters written by children and visitors to the exhibition to the heroines.

Event organiser, Peri Langdale, a member of the VE 70 Commemoration Strategy Team set up by William Hague at the Cabinet Office, said she hoped the local heroines exhibition would catch on around the country because every community still had unique untold stories.

She said: "People are waking up to the idea that if we don't record the women's history we are going to lose it forever.

"A lady from South Shields has added her mother's story - she ran a tea tent at a secret location in the woods where the Dunkirk soldiers were based before posting to France."

Mrs Langdale said hundreds of pupils in the area had researched the roles women in their families had during the war and discovered previously untold stories, highlighting the spirit of women, what they endured and how they helped the country to recover from devastating damage and loss.

Stories featured those from a codebreaker from the "original Bletchley Park" at Queen Ethelburga's School, near Boroughbridge and another from a Grewelthorpe Primary School pupil, who discovered his grandmother escaped from East to West Berlin on the day it was liberated by the Allies.

She said the display showed how the war changed the lives of British women, as they campaigned for equal pay, formed trades unions and built the Spitfires that won the Battle of Britain, only to find they were "still treated as second class citizens and expected to give their jobs back to the returning men".

Another of the stories featured at the exhibition is that of the aunt of the Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Pauline McHardy, who worked as a Land Girl in North Stainley, near Ripon.

"I think it is important that everyone, especially young people, remember and appreciate all the jobs that women did during the war and judging by the children's letters in the exhibition, there are many that do."

The exhibition will run until August 21.