The Sussex charities and communities that meant so much to Dame Vera Lynn

Insight by ITV Meridian's Derek Johnson

Dame Vera Lynn's links to her adopted home county of Sussex were many, varied and constant.

Born in the East End - daughter of a plumber and a dressmaker - she first rented a home in the Sussex Downs during the war with her late husband Harry Lewis, a musician who played in the same orchestra she sang with. It was a bolthole, she once told me, a refuge from London where she recorded her famous songs and a place of course which suffered tremendously from Luftwaffe bombing.

The couple moved to the village of Ditchling in the early 1960s as her career continued to flourish.

She actively participated in many village and community events over the years. She would appear at the annual Ditchling fete and supported charities and organisations such as St Peter and St James Hospice in Haywards Heath, The Bluebell Railway, and Princess Royal Hospital.

Dame Vera had close ties to a school in Sussex catering for children with cerebral palsy and other learning needs. That involvement led to the setting up of a charity in her own name in 2001. Dame Vera Lynn Children's Charity has helped more than 600 families from across the South East who have children with cerebral  palsy and other motor learning impairments and continues to this day.

She was made a Dame in 1975 in recognition of this charity work and became a Companion of Honour in 2016. 

Beyond her family and her charity endeavours the most important thing in Dame Vera's life was her enduring link to the British soldiers of World War Two. ''My boys'', she called them.  She appreciated absolutely how important her songs were for them.

They were songs, she would always tell people, that had no political or social message. They were about love, hope and home and boosted morale in dark, difficult and desperate days. Some of the darkest days this country saw in the 20th Century.

Dame Vera campaigned for the Burma Star Association - having entertained the troops in Burma during the war. She also raised money for the Royal British Legion to help ex service personnel who had fallen on hard times later in life.

As she passes into history now that link between the Forces Sweetheart and the fighting men of Britain will always be there. Always and forever.