Dame Vera Lynn: National Memorial

Debate between Jim Shannon and David Amess

Tuesday 11th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I am so very pleased that this Adjournment debate is taking place at the end of a very special day for all of us. It is of specific importance that none other than Her Majesty the Queen was here to start our proceedings, because the lady I am going to talk about was held in very, very high regard by the royal family and particularly Her Majesty the Queen. I am so pleased that it is you, Dame Eleanor, who is presiding over our proceedings this evening, because I happen to know on good authority that you were very fond of this lady because your late father held her in the highest regard. I know that you and your team—Mr Speaker and the other two Deputies—are quietly rather supportive of what I am now going to share with the House.

Dame Vera Lynn holds a special place in the hearts of everyone in the United Kingdom for her wonderful, uplifting singing during the dark years of the second world war. Her voice on the radio brought warmth and hope into the homes of ordinary people whose lives had been thrown into chaos by war. She travelled to many of the theatres of war, particularly in the far east, to support the fighting men she called “her boys”. Viscount Slim, grandson of Field Marshall Sir William Slim, commander of Fourteenth Army in Burma, has told me that his grandfather called the Fourteenth the “forgotten Army”. Dame Vera’s visits to the troops in the far east were so appreciated by the men who fought there. She went on an extended tour of India and Burma, sharing the basic conditions experienced by the soldiers, and they never forgot that. She ate the same food, slept under the same canvas, travelled through hostile and rugged terrain without complaint and with a cheerful disposition that brought sunshine wherever she went.

We have all seen pictures of Vera singing to crowds of young soldiers far from home. It must have been as if a lovely angel had descended to sing to them in the midst of the horrors of war. For a few short hours, she helped them forget the bad food, exhaustion, fear and heat, and connected them with their homes and families, so far away, through her magical voice.

I knew Vera for many years, because she happened to live next door to a friend of mine. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), whose constituent she was, would have liked to contribute to this debate, but as a Government Whip she is not able to do so. Vera’s daughter, Virginia, and her husband Tom, are both good friends, and they have taken on the mammoth task of continuing Vera’s charitable work, ensuring that her legacy continues.

I feel that a lot of people do not actually know what Vera did. Like me, she came from an ordinary background in the east end of London. Indeed, my family home is in Forest Gate, and just round the corner, down the road, is Dame Vera Lynn road. She experienced tough times, and she was always down to earth, kind and generous. These days—this will probably backfire—celebrities can be somewhat aloof and remote, but Vera was never like that, and she never forgot the sacrifices made by the troops in the second world war.

Vera was 103 when she died. My own mother reached the age of 104—they breed them tough in the east end of London. Vera’s career spanned an incredible 96 years, as she began performing publicly at the age of just seven. Her first radio broadcast was with the Joe Loss orchestra in 1935, and she first recorded one of her most popular songs, “We’ll meet again”, in 1939.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. It is so pertinent and something we all love. I am pleased to hear about the special affection that his family has for Dame Vera Lynn—it is wonderful to hear it expressed in such a way. Does he agree that in a world where some are ashamed of our past, Dame Vera Lynn is a treasure to be remembered and celebrated, as part of a generation of selfless British patriots, whose love of and devotion and dedication to their country is something to be memorialised and immortalised?

[Sir David Amess]

How could anyone disagree with anything the hon. Gentleman says? I will certainly not disagree on this occasion. He described this wonderful woman brilliantly.

During the second world war, Dame Vera would sing to people using London underground stations as air raid shelters. The title of “forces’ sweetheart” came about after the Daily Express, backing the campaign, asked British servicemen to name their favourite musical performer. Of course Vera topped the poll. Her radio programme, “Sincerely Yours”, began in 1941, and included messages to troops serving abroad. However, after the fall of Singapore, the programme was taken off air for 18 months, because it was viewed—I mean, this is crazy!—as too sentimental, and it was thought it would interfere with the war effort.

Vera toured Egypt, India and Burma with the Entertainments National Service Association. In 1985 she rightly received the Burma Star for entertaining British guerrilla units in Japanese occupied Burma. How those young men must have enjoyed having a star like Vera appear among them, and what courage she showed to put herself in such a dangerous position. In her later years, Vera was a frequent performer at commemorative events such as VE day, and we see the royal family on the balcony enjoying every minute when Vera and others appeared. Her final public performance was in Trafalgar Square in 2005, where she made a speech and joined in with a few bars of “We’ll meet again”.

Her career was not finished there. In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to make it to No.1 in the British album chart—I wonder what the Brits will be making of that at tonight’s awards. In 2017, the year of her 100th birthday, an album of her songs, which I have, with new orchestral settings and duets with many contemporary artists, was released. She was the best-selling female artist of the year—at the age of 100!—and received a lifetime achievement award at the Brit awards, which is taking place this evening. She was the first centenarian performer to have a top 10 album.

It is not just Dame Vera’s wonderful voice that should be commemorated, but the enormous amount that she has done for others less fortunate than herself. Many people will be unaware of all the marvellous work done by her two charities; the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity and the Dame Vera Lynn Charitable Trust.

The Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity was established in 2001 to help children with cerebral palsy and other motor learning impairments and their families. I know that, in her own constituency, my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point (Rebecca Harris) holds that particular organisation very dear. The charity has its origin in the announcement by Scope that it was no longer able to fund its School for Parents network, including Ingfield Manor, which was close to Dame Vera’s home in Sussex. The school provided early intervention services to support parents in raising pre-school age children with cerebral palsy, enabling the children to learn and develop physically, socially and emotionally.

Vera launched the Bluebird appeal to raise funds to save the school, and the charity continues to provide early intervention services as well as other activities, such as music therapy, swimming, sensory sessions and help for families. In the words of Dame Vera:

“Early intervention is key to helping young children with cerebral palsy and other motor learning conditions gain a solid base from which they can develop their independence and self-esteem in later life.”

So, Madam Deputy Speaker, what am I asking for tonight in this Adjournment debate? The Dame Vera Lynn Charitable Trust was set up in 1989 with her late husband, Harry. The main aim of the trust is to relieve hardship or distress among former members of the armed services and their families—another cause close to her heart. The trust has donated to many military charities, as well as giving money to other causes, such as children’s charities and, more recently, the national health service silent soldiers campaign. So, together with Dame Vera’s family, I am launching a campaign for a permanent memorial to one of the most loved stars that this country has ever produced. One place immediately came to mind for her memorial—the iconic white cliffs of Dover, immortalised in one of Vera’s most famous songs. In 2017, Vera raised more than £1.5 million to enable the National Trust to purchase 700,000 square metres of land immediately behind the cliff top. That amazing feat was accomplished within a week and is a tribute to her enduring popularity and her hold on the British public’s imagination.

The memorial will be a permanent reminder to future generations of what this marvellous lady accomplished and how much she was loved. The project has the backing of my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Mrs Elphicke), who is the vice-chairman of our committee, so, if something happens to me, she is standing ready to take over. Most importantly, it also has the backing of Dover District Council, and what a wonderful council it is. It is what I call a “can-do” council. It is so helpful and so proactive. I just could not be more pleased with its welcoming of this scheme.

After an initial site visit to the cliffs in April to find a suitable accessible home for the sculpture, the committees got to work. The most impressive and relevant site and one that has captured the spirit of Dame Vera is a proposed open-air amphitheatre or bowl overlooking the harbour and the white cliffs, which is such a wonderful idea. This project will provide a venue for concerts, theatrical productions and military events in a stunning natural setting. The memorial to Dame Vera will be at the heart of the plans, and her musical legacy will live on in the enjoyment of visitors and audiences for many years to come. You can see it now, Madam Deputy Speaker: there she will be, presiding over the bowl and looking over the channel. It is just wonderful. People talk about statues and memorials. The team have come up with such a wonderful scheme—I cannot take any credit. I intend to visit the proposed venue this Friday to see for myself how the site could be landscaped to provide the best possible setting.

The people of Dover—I do hope my hon. Friend the Member for Dover will catch your eye, Madam Deputy Speaker—have taken Dame Vera to their hearts. There will be an enormous sense of pride in the memorial, which will cement the link between Dame Vera and the town. I have no doubt that the amphitheatre and memorial will prove to be a popular destination for visitors from all over the world and a magnificent venue for artistic and musical performances. In fact, I must say to my hon. Friend that, when Southend becomes a city, we can have an event at the end of the pier, and I can see us linking up together—it is just wonderful. I can see musical performances as well as acts of commemoration —my right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois) will enjoy this—for the armed forces. I am sure Vera would have loved the combination of her two great loves: music and her boys.

The renowned sculptor Paul Day, whose work includes the Battle of Britain memorial on the Embankment and the Queen Mother’s memorial, will create the sculpture, and the initial sketches promise a stunning design that he hopes will tell Vera’s story. He will be involved at every stage of the bold project—I think a documentary will be made—so the memorial and the setting will form a cohesive whole and a fitting commemoration of Vera’s life and work. The memorial will be paid for by donations and public subscription, so I, as a politician, will not be making the public appeal; I am just sort of chairing it all. I have no doubt that the British people will want to see Vera commemorated in a fitting manner that everyone can enjoy.

The campaign will go live on 18 June—the first anniversary of Dame Vera’s death. An application to set up a charitable trust to collect the donations has been sent to the Charity Commission and is being dealt with right now. I very much hope that all the necessary paperwork will be approved in time for the launch on 18 June. The campaign launch video will feature contributions from Katherine Jenkins OBE, Sir Tim Rice, Sir Paul McCartney and Anthony Andrews, each of whom has been touched by Dame Vera’s life in some way. Katherine Jenkins has sung many of Dame Vera’s songs, interpreting them for a new generation. Anthony Andrew’s father was a musician, arranger and conductor at the BBC and played the trumpet on many of Dame Vera’s radio performances. There will also be a few surprise contributions, but hon. Members must tune in on the day to find out who they are.

I think all hon. Members would agree that Dame Vera Lynn is one of the most iconic and best loved personalities of the last century.

Organised Crime in Rural Areas

Debate between Jim Shannon and David Amess

Wednesday 18th March 2020 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Sir David Amess (in the Chair)]

Order. Does the hon. Gentleman have the permission of the mover of the motion and the Minister to intervene?

[Jim Shannon]

I do. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak. I wanted to come down and support the hon. Lady because rural crime is also a massive issue in my constituency, which is urban-cum-rural, and I live on a farm. I declare an interest as a member of the Ulster Farmers’ Union. In my constituency, the police and the Ulster Farmers’ Union—in the hon. Lady’s constituency it would be the National Farmers Union—are identifying vehicles, trailers and machinery, and are therefore able to trace where they go. They have been very active and some of the stuff stolen in my constituency has ended up in the Republic of Ireland. Has that been done in the hon. Lady’s constituency?

Southend: City Status

Debate between Jim Shannon and David Amess

Friday 20th December 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

For a moment, I was tempted to say, “Before the House adjourns for the Christmas recess, there are a number of points that I wish to raise,” but we have a title for this Adjournment debate. The House will not be surprised to hear that I am going to describe how, as the Prime Minister said just six weeks ago, Southend will become a city.

Before that, I want to mention three newly elected colleagues. Little did I think that the daughter of my first constituency chairman, when I was elected the Member for Basildon in 1983, would be sitting here now. I think that the parents of my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Miss Dines) are looking down from heaven, so proud that she has been elected.

I have had another big surprise. You will remember, Mr Deputy Speaker, that Ken Hargreaves, who was my best friend here, was the Member for Hyndburn. Peter Britcliffe used to run his office and stood twice for the seat, and his 24-year-old daughter, my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Sara Britcliffe), has been elected. I am sure that Ken Hargreaves is looking down from heaven with great pride.

Then there is probably the most extraordinary election result of all. Just three months ago, I was invited to Durham University. The motion was, “That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.” I opposed the motion. We will not dwell on it, but for various reasons two parliamentary colleagues pulled out at the last minute, so a replacement had to be found, and that replacement was my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Dehenna Davison), who has been elected at the age of 26. This is an extraordinary occasion for me. If I had more time, I would mention the 46 and 109 new colleagues, but I need to concentrate on the Minister.

I am not messing around. We have got it from the Prime Minister that Southend is going to become a city—and it will become a city. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) is present and we are absolutely united as to why Southend should become a city. It will not cost a thing, but I say to my hon. Friend the Minister that the enhanced status and ability to attract new investment will mean a great deal to the people I represent. That is why we want it.

How does a place acquire city status? Well, there needs to be a contest. We had a contest in 2011, 2002 and 2000. It usually takes place around a royal event. Now, the Duke of Edinburgh is going to be 100 in 18 months’ time and I am working on other royal events to see how we can fine-tune the timing. It would be great if it happened next year because it will be the centenary of the mayoralty of Southend, which runs between 2020 and 2021. Now that we have moved on from the horrible atmosphere we had in this place, we have to be positive. And what could be a more positive way to start than by Southend being declared a city?

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his hard work to ensure that Southend will achieve city status. Southend has many great things: a strong city centre, churches, a representative council, good education provision and excellent amenities. Like Lisburn in Northern Ireland, it will achieve city status and it is important that it achieves its goal. Well done to the hon. Gentleman for his hard work. I have supported him the whole time I have been in this place, and look forward to Southend getting city status. I might even get an invite to Southend when it gets city status; I hope so.

[Sir David Amess]

I thank the hon. Gentleman, whom I regard as my friend, for his support.

Let me run through the list of reasons why Southend should become a city. First, there is the Music Man Project, which was the inspiration of David Stanley. He did not leave people with learning difficulties just to be looked after. He has absolutely transformed their lives through the power of music. The House can imagine my pride when these people with learning difficulties first performed at the London Palladium and then at the Royal Albert Hall, where my right hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Penny Mordaunt)—who was the Defence Secretary at the time—watched from the gallery. And it gets better: we have just sent a mission to Broadway and will now be taking our show, performed by people with learning difficulties, to Broadway. That is one reason why Southend should be a city.

Next, Leigh-on-Sea was voted the happiest place in the United Kingdom. Well, I was not so happy knocking on doors in the cold and dark there recently, so I suppose I am the one exception. We scored high for community spirit, opportunities to develop skills, good restaurants and shops. It is also the 150th anniversary of Southend rugby club. How good is that—to keep a rugby club going for 150 years with volunteers?

The marina, which will probably be in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East, is going to be fabulous. That is another reason that Southend should be a city. We have the longest pier in the world. You cannot build piers today, but there we are. A number of politicians have felt that they were walking on water. When they come to Southend, they really do walk on water—on the longest pier. We are also reinventing and reinvigorating the trains there.

During the election campaign, one or two issues were raised, but they can all be built into the case for Southend getting city status. All colleagues think that Southend airport is fantastic and very convenient. We are building a business park there, which will be excellent for regeneration. However, I have to say that it does cause nuisance and upset among people, especially when the two Amazon flights take off at 2.30 am and 4.30 am. There is also a difference in noise levels between easyJet and Ryanair, and an issue with air quality. We cannot keep having talks with the airport about section 106, so I want those matters changed.

Donkey’s years ago, when I was the MP for Basildon, I had a public row on TV with the chairman of British Rail. I was clapped when I came through the Division Lobby, and they said, “Good on you, David! He needed to be told.” Our railway was called the “misery line”, so we changed the owner. I wanted Richard Branson to have it, but we ended up with c2c, and I am disappointed. The card reading machines take ages, as I found this morning; it is stupid. The ticket machines are far too low down, and when the sun is glaring on to the glass, you cannot see the screen. I am sick to death of being redirected every other week from Fenchurch Street to Liverpool Street. We need something done about that.

Although I say to Conservative Members that we should forget renationalising British Rail, I am one of the few who was there when we privatised all these industries, and it was under the Blair Government that power was taken away from this place. We now need to make these organisations accountable, because that is where the problem is. We, the elected politicians, earn a third of the money that umpteen people in these unelected positions earn, and they need to be made much more accountable.

I turn to the national health service. The chief executive of the NHS said at the start of the campaign, “Don’t weaponise the NHS,” but what happened? It was weaponised, with all this rubbish about selling it to America, and particularly in my area and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East. I was at Southend Hospital this morning doing my impersonation of Santa Claus, and I met one of our wonderful consultants, Paul Guyler. The reorganisation of services between Basildon, Broomfield and Southend cannot continue unless they are clinically led. They are clinically led, but we need people to put their heads above the parapet, and we need the ambulance service to reassure us that when they are moving patients around, there will not be delays that could result in disaster.

On the environment and water quality, I think that the Thames estuary is getting cleaner all the time. I was standing on Bell Wharf recently, and a seal popped out of the water and starting clapping me—I thought, “There’s someone else who’s pleased with my re-election as a Member of Parliament.”

I turn to parking. I think, Mr Deputy Speaker, we have reached a stage in our lives where we know what all the problems are; it is the solutions we ask for. Perhaps all my new colleagues will come up with some new solutions. I represent a tiny urban area, and parking is a real issue. I am delighted to see in the Gracious Speech that the Government are going to put money in for potholes.

My hon. Friend the Minister should know that I am inviting ambassadors and anyone who is the head of a foreign embassy in this country to visit Southend. We have already had them from them Taiwan and Qatar. We are having them from India, the Maldives and all over the world. They want to invest in Southend, and that is another good reason why we should be a city.

There was very good news from the hospital that I visited this morning. I am pleased to announce that the hospital has decided to invest in a new surgical robot to undertake prostate cancer surgery. We had a launch here with the new charity Prost8. This will change the lives of so many gentlemen who are diagnosed with a prostate issue. It was so good that our new Speaker decided to go public, just as the former Prime Minister did, about being diagnosed with diabetes. Sometimes it is forgotten that we are human beings, and we suffer all the happiness and tragedies of other people. He will be a role model in that.

I am also pleased to announce to the Minister that we are going to offer patients across mid and south Essex out-of-hours emergency interventional radiology treatment, which is another good thing to happen. My hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford) is no longer in her place, but the hospital in her constituency is going to have a new MRI scanner, which will help an awful lot of people.

I want to mention a few of the local authority’s projects. A successful procurement process has led to a partnership between the Better Queensway scheme and Swan Housing, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East. There is the second phase of The Forum, a partnership with South Essex College, supported by £6 million of funding from the local enterprise partnership. I have already mentioned the pier. A wheeled sports facility opened in the summer, and the SUNRISE project is a great example of co-design and co-production in the creation of ideas for a new London Road entrance to the high street.

The bid is working very well indeed. I have mentioned the airport business park and the 21-hectare site which will include the development of HQ-style office buildings. A planning application for the Seaway development has been submitted, and work is ongoing with Homes England and other partners to support the delivery of a significant pipeline of new housing across the borough. Digital infrastructure investment through CityFibre will ensure that Southend becomes a gigabyte city, and that all its households will have access to full fibre by 2022.

I could go on and on, but I am anxious to ensure that my hon. Friend the Minister has a little time in which to respond.