Kentish Express Ashford & District
Tributes pour in
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 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 – released in March to she knew instinctively what coincide with the people needed to hear, how icon’s birthday. to rally the morale and her It included a new spirit and strength created the voiceover aimed soundtrack of a generation. at bolstering the “There will never be another British public amid Dame Vera Lynn. Forces’ Sweetheart the coronavirus panVera and our sweetheart. An demic. icon. A legend. An inspiration. Dame My mentor and my friend. I will said: “We are miss you greatly and I know facing a very we’ll meet again some sunny challenging day.” time at the Born Vera Margaret Welch moment, on March 20, 1917 in East Ham, and I know London, she was the daughter many peoare of a plumber father and a dressmaker ple mother. worried She rose to fame performing about the outdoor concerts for troops in