20/06/2020
The UK 1940's Radio Station, an online radio service with a large following of people interested in jazz, swing and big band music of that most tumultuous of decades, reported on Thursday that Dame Vera Lynn had passed on at the age of one hundred and three. The station played Vera Lynn music through the day. The BBC News Channel and Sky News also featured the news of Dame Vera's passing prominently through the day. The singer was known as the “Forces Sweetheart” and was a pin up for Allied Soldiers during the Second World War, with her tear jerking song “We'll Meet Again” now a staple part of British culture. Her Majesty the Queen even referenced its lyrics during a very special broadcast to the nation carried both by BBC and commercial channels back in April. With the coronavirus lockdown in full effect, the Queen urged the British people to remember that “we will meet again” after the end of the crisis. Dame Vera was a pin up for the very best of British values of tolerance as we recall her today – a source of inspiration during the battle against dictatorship that held Germany and much of occupied Europe in its grip. Dame Vera continued with charitable work throughout the post-War period and also surprised people with the causes she embraced. Popular LGBTQ newswire Pink News reports that in 2009, when she was already 92, Dame Vera was a surprise guest at Brighton and Hove Pride. She appeared with the Brighton Gay Men's Chorus along with veteran Dorie Steward, to thank them for raising funds for the Blind Veterans UK. Dame Vera provided the boys of the chrous feedback about their performance, and singing tips. Dame Vera was also a friend to community radio stations like this one you are tuned to now. Among the causes she supported was Angel Radio, the radio station for older people, which is based in Hampshire but is also audible in Bristol on the low power DAB multiplex. Angel Radio, which stared life as a pirate radio station in 1993, today broadcasts legally with a large fanbase and volunteers from their fifties into their nineties. A lovely personalised message from Dame Vera greets listeners when they land on the Angel website. The older person's charity Age UK tweeted: “It's with great sadness that we hear about the passing of the nation's sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn. Dame Vera raised morale with ‘We’ll Meet Again’ during WW2, and again during the current pandemic.” Another national legend, Miriam Margolyes posted “The voice like a bell was a gift, which she shared so generously and bravely. But the magic was that her personality was genuine, open, and warm. Meeting her was one of the high points of my life. She looked at you and saw you. And connected. There is no one in our lives, except The Queen, who had the power to connect a nation. For that, she will be remembered and always with love.”
