Vicki Lee in fundraiser for Vera Lynn statue
A Palmerston North woman will be among London’s most illustrious company when she helps to raise funds for a twice life-size statue to commemorate songstress, Dame Vera Lynn, and the wartime generation.
Vicki Lee is in the United Kingdom to take part in two events, one a fundraiser to meet the remaining cost of the statue, which has been three years in the making.
The fundraiser is at London’s Connaught Rooms this Friday. The night of “shameless nostalgia” will be compared by royal biographer Gyles Brandreth, and the lineup includes The D-Day Darlings, Britain’s Got Talent winner and Chelsea pensioner Colin Thackery, and novelist Lord Jeffrey Archer, who will auction some of Dame Vera’s prized possessions.
Lee has been invited to take part alongside the other performers and, more than likely, will lead an impromptu singalong.
She had accompanied Colin Thackery and led the singing when a portrait of Dame Vera was unveiled at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019.
“I’m honoured to take part in the evening,” Lee said. “It will be surreal. Dame Vera was a symbol of hope during the Second World War. She was called the Forces’ Sweetheart and was able to relate to everyone.
“The whole evening is what she epitomised and, for me, I feel a sense that this reinforces what I’m meant to be doing.
“Her singing was all about the boys [the forces] and supporting them.”
Lee met Dame Vera, who died in 2020 at the age of 103, on about a dozen occasions and has honoured her legacy over the last 10 years with her solo tribute shows in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France.
One of her own compositions, Irreplaceable, has been recorded by the leader of the D-Day Darlings, Katie Ashby, and will be sung at the event, which also includes dinner and a dance.
The first event yesterday, entitled Remembering Dame Vera, was organised by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and was held at The Wing, a venue that resembles a World War II Spitfire near Dover.
After a buffet supper, Lee presented songs from her repertoire including We’ll Meet Again and White Cliffs of Dover and lead a singalong.
The event also featured Susan Fleet, long-time friend and personal assistant to Dame Vera, who spoke about her enduring legacy.
About £1 million is still required to pay for the bronze memorial, which is to be completed in the next few months by celebrated British sculptor Paul Day.
Dame Vera is in the centre of the statue, which also includes wives and mothers who “kept the home fires burning”, children who may never get to know their father, WAAFs, Wrens, ATC, big bands, Land Army girls and other servicewomen who were determined to do their bit.
There’s a Decca disc of We’ll Meet Again and one of the faces around the piano is Sir David Arness, the Tory MP murdered in 2021, who was the original driving force behind the memorial.
“For me the statue represents all the servicemen and women including the New Zealand soldiers who served in all arenas of the Second World War,” Lee said.
“It’s a great honour to attend these engagements and I couldn’t have done it without the close support of my family.”