Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Tributes pour in for Forces’ Sweetheart
There was an outpouring of heart-felt tributes as the death of national icon Dame Vera Lynn was announced last Thursday. The Forces’ Sweetheart, best remembered for her rousing wartime anthems We’ll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover, died aged 103.
Her family said they were ‘deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers’.
Dame Vera Lynn, who lived in Ditchling, East Sussex, passed away surrounded by her close family, the statement added. Singer Katherine Jenkins was one of the first to pay her respects, referring to Dame Vera as a ‘mentor and friend’. The pair recently proa duced duet of We’ll Meet Again to lift spirits during lockdown, with a new video released in March to coincide with the icon’s birthday. It included a new voiceover aimed at bolstering the British public amid the coronavirus panvera demic. Dame said: “We are facing a very challenging time at the moment, and I know many peoare ple worried about the future. I’m greatly encouraged that despite these struggles, we have seen people joining together. “Music is so good for the soul, and during these hard times we must all help each other to find moments of joy.”
On hearing of Dame Vera’s death, Jenkins wrote on her social media post: “Her voice brought comfort to millions in their darkest hours, her songs filled the nation’s hearts with hope, and her emotive performances, whether home or abroad, then or now, helped to get us through.
“It was she who chose the sentiments of her songs – she knew instinctively what people needed to hear, how to rally the morale and her spirit and strength created the soundtrack of a generation. “There will never be another Dame Vera Lynn. Forces’ Sweetheart and our sweetheart. An icon. A legend. An inspiration. My mentor and my friend. I will miss you greatly and I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.” Born Vera Margaret Welch on March 20, 1917 in East Ham, London, she was the daughter of a plumber father and a dressmaker mother. She rose to fame performing outdoor concerts for troops in
Egypt, India, and Burma during the war as part of Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA).
Dame Vera visited Kent on a number of occasions.
In 2009, aged 92, she took part in a sing-along with British Second World War veterans at a military show near Tunbridge Wells.
More than 100 veterans gathered for a reunion at the War and Peace Show, receiving warm applause after their impromptu performance of the White Cliffs of Dover.
The sing-along was part of a packed programme of events at the biggest military history event in the world, held at the Paddock Wood park.
In 2010, Dame
Vera backed a local campaign to stop the Port of Dover being privatised and sold to foreign investors. She visited The Sea Sport Centre on the seafront as Dover MP Charlie Elphicke launched the £400m community idea.
She said: “The port of Dover belongs to us. We want to look after it and we don’t want anyone else looking after it or telling us what to do with it.” Paying tribute, Mr Elphicke tweeted: “So incredibly sad to hear the news of the passing of Dame Vera Lynn.
“Such an amazing and inspiring-person-damevera-played a vital role keeping the Port of Dover forever England. RIP.” Dover and Deal MP Natalie Elphicke has called for a lasting memorial of Dame Vera in Dover – and paid tribute to her in Parliament.
She told the Commons: “Dame Vera was a true friend of our White Cliffs country, working to see off the planned sell-off of our Port and she will we have the thanks and prayers of our community.” Chairman of Dover District Council, Cllr Michael Conolly, said the community felt a strong connection with Dame Vera, adding: “She will always be remembered with great fondness by all of us in White Cliffs Country.”