21 March 2007
ROYAL STAR & GARTER RESIDENTS ARE INVITED TO DAME VERA LYNN'S 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Four residents living at The Royal Star & Garter Home in Richmond were delighted to receive invitations to the 90th Birthday Celebrations of Dame Vera Lynn (DBE OstJ) at the Imperial War Museum in London yesterday. Neil Francis, Department Manager at Waitrose in Sheen Road, Richmond, came to the Home yesterday morning to present the invitations to residents before they were escorted to the Imperial War Museum for the celebrations.
Waitrose generously offered their four tickets to residents living at The Royal Star & Garter Home as although Waitrose provided a grand three-tier celebration cake and organic red and white wines for the 100 guests attending the event, they felt our residents would appreciate the opportunity to attend this wonderful event and kindly donated their tickets. Neil Francis, Waitrose Department Manager, commented, “We could think of no more deserving members of our community than residents at The Royal Star & Garter Home in Richmond. We are proud to have been involved in marking this special occasion and hope they have a fantastic time joining in the celebrations”, said Neil.
Lucky residents Dick Martin (Royal Marines Rtd), Jessie Millard (Naval Voluntary Aid Detachment Rtd), Stephanie Kerans (Womens’ Royal Naval Service Rtd) and Nancy Wake (Special Forces Rtd) gladly received their invitations yesterday and looked forward to meeting Dame Vera Lynn. Dick Martin, resident at The Royal Star & Garter Home said, “It is wonderful to be invited to celebrate with Dame Vera Lynn; it will most certainly be a grand occasion and I look forward to it very much”, said Dick.
The Birthday celebrations commenced at 12.45pm with a buffet lunch at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth and were sponsored by the Royal British Legion and Waitrose. Special guests attending the event include Baroness Margaret Thatcher, June Whitfield and Baroness Betty Boothroyd.
Dame Vera Lynn is a long-time supporter of the Home and many residents have had the pleasure of meeting her on previous occasions. Ever since the Second World War, Dame Vera Lynn has been a devoted supporter and graced us with her attendance at events, often giving delightful performances for residents such as at the Lucas Aerospace sponsored concerts. Her most recent visit to the Richmond Home was the launch of The Royal Star & Garter Rose in July 2000 where a brand new variety of the Rose was launched at the Home and also at Hampton Court Flower Show.
The Royal Star & Garter Homes would like to say a big thank you to Waitrose for providing this wonderful opportunity for residents who thoroughly enjoyed the occasion.
About the Royal Star & Garter Charity – founded in 1916.
The Royal Star & Garter Charity has been caring for disabled ex-Service personnel since 1916. The Charity offers the best in nursing and therapeutic care for anyone is physically disabled or incapacitated and has served in Her Majesty’s Forces. There are also a wide variety of leisure activities available for our residents to enjoy, both internally and at outside venues. The Royal Star & Garter Charity is embarking on an ambitious and wide reaching project to build new homes, in the South West London area and elsewhere, to provide specialist care for elderly disabled ex-Service people in the best modern surroundings and will include a specialist dementia wing. The first of these will open in Solihull in the summer of 2008.
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FURTHER INFO: Rebecca Spencer, Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator, The Royal Star & Garter Homes.
TEL: 020 8439 8118 or EMAIL: rebecca.spencer@starandgarter.org