WOMEN workers from one of the region's wartime munitions factories were reunited at a party yesterday after Canadian researchers put them back in touch.

About 17,000 workers were employed at Royal Ordnance Factory 59, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, which is now Newton Aycliffe Industrial Estate, between 1941 and 1945.

Most of the workforce was made up of women - who became known as the Aycliffe Angels - doing dangerous work such as filling bullets and assembling detonators.

Professor Nick Turner and Sean Tucker, from Queens University, in Ontario, Canada, who have been carrying out research into the angels, were able to find about 60 of them, and planned the reunion.

Vera Barber, a former angel who helped organise the reunion along with Margaret Howe, said: "I was the point of contact for Nick and Sean.

"They placed an advertisement looking for the old Angels with my number on it and I received many calls."

The reunion, held at Shildon Civic Centre, included a buffet lunch and a look back at wartime memorabilia.

It was attended by more than 60 former Angels, along with Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman and mayors and councillors from County Durham.

Ms Goodman said: "Everyone here played a part in the heroic war against fascism, and it is wonderful that these brave ladies are being recognised."

Mr Tucker said: "It is like a step back in time seeing all these women reunited. They are really special people."

Former angel Joan Pattinson, 84, from Haughton, Darlington, said: "We had some laughs at the factory and I made some great friends.

"Obviously, it was a tough time, but it made us all very close and it is fantastic to see everyone again."