Dame Vera Lynn was born Vera Margaret Welch on 20^th March 1917 in East Ham.

She began performing at the East Ham Working Men’s Social Club at the age of seven and later adopted her grandmother’s maiden name Lynn. According to a 1929 flyer she was listed as being their Juvenile Chorus Vocalist.

She eventually went on to perform in West End theatres, restaurants and clubs. It was all very glamorous performing to all the posh ladies and gentlemen in their full evening dress.

However, at the end of her performance she would leave it all behind and return home to East Ham.

During a 1991 interview for The South Bank Show she spoke about this:

“When it was finished, the glamour finished. I’d put on my coat, go outside and stand at the bus stop for the Number 15 and go home to East Ham.”

She had fond memories of the Number 15 Routemaster bus.

Dame Vera enjoyed a very successful career and had sold more than a million records by the time she was 22. However, it was when she entertained the troops during World War Two that she became famous.

In 1939, one of her best known songs, We’ll Meet Again, was released, putting her firmly in the nation’s hearts. To them it wasn’t just a performance, it was a piece of home. That’s why she became known as the Forces Sweetheart.

When Dame Vera turned 100 in 2017, she watched via live video link as pupils from Brampton School, in East Ham, performed some of her songs. Speaking to the choir after their performance, Dame Vera recounted that she had very happy memories of her time at Brampton School.

Even this year, she continued to make headlines. Dame Vera’s influence was apparent when the Queen quoted a line from her song, We’ll Meet Again, at the end of her lockdown speech in April.

On the 18 June 2020 Dame Vera Lynn passed away peacefully, surrounded by her close family.

Her daughter Virginia Lewis-Jones shared with me some lovely memories of her Ma. “She often sang to me when I was little and in bed,” she said. “Also of course she always sang when all her family were together for a celebration, or even just a get together – it was a very musical family. I think she was about four when she began.”

Dame Vera is fondly remembered in Newham. Her image features on the Newham Through the Ages wall, in Pilgrim’s Way, East Ham (formally Wakefield Street). Ladysmith Avenue, where she lived from 1921 – 1938 features her name on the sign and Vera Lynn Close, in Forest Gate, is named after her.

Dame Vera set up her own charity in 2001. The organisation helps families from across the South East, who have children with cerebral palsy and other motor learning difficulties. https://dvlcc.org.uk/

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