Dame Vera Lynn CH, DBE, LLD, M.Mus. (20 March 1917 - 18 June 2020)

Known as Britain’s wartime Forces’ Sweetheart, the English singer Vera Lynn was held in great affection by millions and continued to be a powerful symbol of hope and fortitude right up until her recent death aged 103.

With songs full of optimism and longing such as We’ll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover, she inspired and entertained the military abroad and civilians at home during World War Two. When the nation faced a battle of a different kind this year, the lyrics of We’ll Meet Again resonated with a modern audience who were separated from their loved ones during lockdown and for the second time Vera Lynn became the oldest artist to achieve a top 40 album in the British charts when her greatest hits album re-entered the charts beating her previous record.

Born Vera Margaret Welch in East Ham in Essex, her talent for singing and entertaining was soon recognised and from an early age she performed in local clubs eventually leaving school to join a touring music hall revue and changing her name to Lynn, her grandmother’s maiden name. By the age of 16 she was a soloist with various bands and recorded several records and by the mid-1930s was performing on the radio with the Joe Loss Orchestra and then the Casani Club Band, releasing her first solo in 1936. War could have ended her career, but when she volunteered for war work she was told that she should continue to entertain and with appearances at London Palladium and the Holborn Empire, as well as in hospitals and army camps her voice brought comfort to the nation and she gained her Forces’ Sweetheart nickname. In 1944, after joining the Entertainment National Services Association (ENSA) Vera Lynn travelled as far as India, Burma and Egypt to perform for the troops, explaining later in life ‘It was so important to get entertainment to the boys’.

After the war, Lynn toured widely in Europe and continued to broadcast on the radio for several years and in 1952 became the first English artist to hit number one on the American record chart with Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart.

Her lifetime of service to her country was officially recognised in 1969 when she became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and in 1975 she was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire  (DBE).

In the 1950s Vera Lynn joined with fellow entertainers to set up the charity SOS, to raise funds for people with cerebral palsy. SOS later became SFCP - Stars Foundation for Cerebral Palsy - a charity run entirely by volunteers. Dame Vera remained a Trustee until her death. Her philanthropic pursuits were numerous and very important to her, ranging from the promotion of veteran’s causes to raising funds for breast cancer research. In 2001 Dame Vera set up her own Children’s Charity which has now helped more than 600 families from across the southeast who have children with cerebral palsy.

In 2007, to celebrate Dame Vera’s 90th birthday, Stars Foundation held a celebration fund-raising dinner at the Wallace Collection in London and the Queen’s Jeweller Harry Collins made this special and highly personal bracelet to mark the occasion. The bracelet will be sold by SFCP with any funds raised being donated to The Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity in her memory.