A stalwart of the Girls' Brigade has passed away.

Lynda Nash (nee Marrison) died in Medway Hospital on April 28 - a few months before her 70th birthday.

She suffered from primary peritoneal cancer.

Mrs Nash spent the her early life in St Mary Cray where she lived with her mum and aunt. At the age of nine she joined the Girls’ Life Brigade at The Temple Church, St Mary Cray, the start of a lifetime commitment to the movement.

She achieved all the Brigade awards possible and played the snare drum in the Girls’ Fife Band which performed on several occasions at the Royal Albert Hall.

In 1971 she was one of the first girls from the company to be presented with a Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award at Buckingham Palace.

The following October, she received her commission to become an officer in the Girls’ Brigade.

She met her husband John at church and they married in 1973 and moved to Watson's Hill in Sittingbourne where they had their daughter Alison.

Mrs Nash was at the founding meeting of the Sittingbourne Girls’ Brigade in September 1985 at the Holy Trinity Church in Dover Street.

The company later transferred to the United Reformed Church where Mrs Nash was already a member.

She became joint captain of the company with her friend Sue Fallows. They took many girls away on camp, where Mrs Nash was known for the strict camp hygiene she insisted on.

When the company started a band, Mrs Nash spent hours sewing on badges, taking in skirts or lengthening trousers to ensure the band's uniforms were always spot on.

She became an elder at the United Reformed Church. Mrs Fallows said: "As Christians we are encouraged to use the gifts the Lord gives us and Lynda would say her gift was cleaning, but she also had the gift of needlework and flower arranging. At Christmas the church would look splendid and I knew Lynda had spent all week decorating it."

Mrs Nash's funeral is this Friday at 11am at the Garden of England Crematorium in Bobbing.

There will also be a service of thanksgiving for her life at The Temple URC Church, St Mary Cray, on June 29.