A VERY special celebration took place at the museum in Wormelow for a Second World War heroine who lost her life in a concentration camp.

Had she lived, she would had been 96 years old this year, but the British spy, Violette Szabó GC, who was parachuted into Nazi-occupied France, was captured, tortured and killed at the age of 23.

The museum dedicated to her memory is in the garden of a house where Violette stayed when she was recuperating from an accident. Rosemary Rigby MBE, who owns the house, was never aware of its history when she bought it, but has spent her time creating an ever-lasting memorial to Violette and every year holds a ceremony to remember her.

Special guests at this ceremony included Virginia McKenna OBE who played Violette in the film ‘Carve her name with pride’, Tania Szabó, Violette’s daughter spoke about her mum’s life and special guest Ray Mears, was persuaded by Rosemary to attend after he visited the museum on his tour of the country giving lectures on real-life adversity.

Violette was one of the many women who undertook espionage work for the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Recruits were trained in one of four fields: motor transport, wireless telegraphy, codes or general. They worked on coding and signals, acting as conductors for agents and providing administration and technical support for the Special Training Schools.

Their work was top secret and often highly skilled. Members operated in several theatres of war, including North Africa, Italy, India and the Far East. Many decorations, of both the UK and other countries, were awarded for their service and outstanding courage.

Among these, four of the highest UK decorations were the George Cross awarded to Odette Hallowes (who was incarcerated and tortured, but survived the war), to Violette Szabó and Noor Inayat Khan (both perished in captivity and were decorated posthumously).

The service at Wormelow included a selection of Dame Vera Lynn songs, sung by Ruby Ann, and a cheque presentation by deputy manager of Waitrose Miss Hayley Leighton following the store’s community matters collection featuring the museum recently.

Actress Virginia McKenna OBE, read ‘The Life that I have’, a short poem written by Leo Marks and used as a poem code in the Second World War.

Ray Mears was ‘honoured’ to be asked to attend the ceremony saying it was important to remember Violette “and all of the others she represents”. He added it was tremendously important to go and celebrate her life saying “we need to make sure the story is told to young people”.

After the service, Mr Mears cut the ribbon to open the new store, garage and toilet facilities at the museum.

Rosemary thanked all those who contributed money towards the project adding that one anonymous donation for £8,000 was a tremendous help and very generous.