SHE's a lifesaver, taught Monmouth MP David Davies and organised a memorial for two evacuees killed yards from her home. Former Labour councillor Olive Evans was rewarded with an MBE which she dedicated to her late husband. MELISSA JONES reports.

"MY late husband Gwilym was exceptionally talented.

We met at a little school in St Brides. That was his first job when he came back from war and I went to do work experience there.

I was 18 and he was 28, which was quite a big gap in those days.

We became friends and he came down to my family's farm in the village and then he went to Canterbury University and he wrote to me every single day.

We married two years after we met and had no luxuries but it was lovely.

He was so gifted and wanted to become a lawyer but there was no money available.

However, he was very interested in politics he decided to get involved with Bedwas/ Machen urban council and became a Monmouth Borough Councillor.

He used to cycle to meetings and was so passionate about helping people, like I am.

He was a headteacher of four schools, including Oakfield Juniors at Cwmbran and Gaer Juniors in Newport.

He was also chairman of Caldicot Royal British Legion for 15 years.

Sadly he died in 1995 but I decided to carry on some on his work.

You just have to get on with life.

I don't believe in sitting down and feeling sorry for yourself.

It was a very hard decision to stand as a councillor but I know that's what Gwilym would have wanted.

I had always helped him when when I retired from teaching at Sandy Lane school in the 1980s and I got on a local community council and was governor of Undy primary and Caldicot Comprehensive.

I was a councillor for 13 years and used to deliver the meals on wheels. It was rewarding but very hard work.

I saved an old lady once. I went to her house at lunchtime and it was all locked up and I could see the gas stove and she was lying on the floor next to it.

I broke the window, got in and called the ambulance.

It was only luck I went at that time and if I hadn't I am sure she would have died from the heat as she had broken her hip.

The old people used to wait for me to come with their knives and forks.

But most of these old services have gone now, it's not quite the same as it used to be.

There was talk at one time about me crossing the floor, but I don't believe in that- you must keep to your principles.

I was elected in 2004 to become the first female chairman of Monmouthshire council.

I was vice-chairman the year before, but it was still a surprise.

y chief interests were Education and Early Years and I also spent 12 years on the National Tree Council.

During my year as chairwoman I attended more than 200 events including opening the nursery at Undy Primary School which I had long campaigned for.

I worked with some really wonderful officers and enjoyed going round nearly all the schools in Monmouthshire.

It was great as I could carry on my love for teaching in my new role.

I remember many of the events I went to as chairwoman. Once I was near Abergavenny to lay a wreath and it was bitterly cold and a man said once I was the only one in my position who used to talk to everyone.

I met many people who did fantastic work yet never got any recognition.

I used to arrange buffets and dinners for the workmen- they had never been invited to anything and I wanted to reward them for their hard work.

I liked doing things like that.

I have also met quite a few of the royal family- the Queen at the Royal Welsh Show and Princess Anne when she came to open a factory near Abergavenny where they make food for horses.

She talked to all the girls there and was due to go off to her next engagement but the fog came down and they had to get her a car.

And the owner said 'come in my house, we will have coffee' and I went in aswell and we chatted informally.

It was really nice to meet her I won't tell you what she said but she seemed really genuine.

I've met the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester in Monmouth and Prince Edward when he opened a school there.

I went to Cardiff City Hall when they celebrated their centenery in 2005 and was at the Royal Albert Hall where bands from Gwent helped put on a fabulous concert.

I'm Labour through and through but I liked the old Labour party best.

Four years ago, the Evacuee Association wrote to me because I was a local councillor and asked if I could do some research about two girls who were killed in Undy in 1940, shortly after leaving Dover.

Georgina, 11 and her sister Joan, nine, were staying at Church Farm.

They had been there three weeks and were late for school as they stopped to look at some beehives as they had not seen any before.

The sisters ran across the crossing, which is just by my house and were hit by a train.

I did the research in the archives at County Hall, Cwmbran and the parents came the next day from Dover but they didn't come to the funeral.

So the girls were buried in an unmarked grave and I felt like they were forgotten.

I raised £500 for a memorial stone with the help of Undy community council.

I managed to get in contact with the brother of these little girls and he had never been told about what happened to his sisters.

I wrote to him, he was very ill so he couldn't come to the service but was so grateful he knew at long last and gave £50 toward the stone.

I didn't know anything about it before I did the research.

It was quite a surprise to me they were killed nearly outside my house and it was very upsetting.

I organised a memorial service and after that I was invited to go to London to meet Michael Aspell, who was also a child evacuee.

A lot of people didn't know that around 300 children came to this area during the war.

I would have been about the same age as the girls and I had a lovely childhood living on the family farm.

I made a book of all the wild flowers and I think that's why I enjoyed being on the Tree Council.

Every time they wanted to get rid of trees to build houses I would stand up at Monmouthshire council meetings and fight hard against my colleagues.

The oldest yew tree in Wales is over 6,000 years old- imagine what that has witnessed?

I just love helping out in the best way I can.

When I was teaching I believed in encouragement rather than punishment.

I was deputy head at Sandy Lane for over 20 years and I was there when it closed.

David Davies the MP was one of my pupils - he was only four then. He was a bright little boy.

I often meet ex-pupils everywhere I go and everybody knows me.

I can't go down to the paper shop without two or three people stopping to chat.

I've made lots of friends and one of my best ones is Betty, who I met through the Tree Council.

And then I received my MBE for services to Education and the Community in 2007.

My husband was nominated but he died before it came about.

I was very proud to have received it but I felt I was getting it for him.

I loved Buckingham Palace - the carpets were so deep you would sink down in them and I've got a video of the special day.

I'm glad I'm not a teacher nowadays, it has gone health and safety mad and they have to do so much paperwork.

Some people still come to me as I was a councillor for so long- I received another award for dedicated 50 years to the Labour party.

I just like helping people, I always have and I always will."