The dancer who became a war hero

She also won the British Empire Medal, a tale which will be told on Monday, June 19 at 7.30pm for the Festival of Chichester in The Old Court Room (same building as the Assembly Room), North Street, Chichester.

The play is called Star Of Strait Street and it comes from Winchester-based author Philip Glassboro. The piece comes with music and will be followed by refreshments. It is presented by the Friends of Valletta (suitable for all ages and wheelchair accessible).

“It is the tale of this extraordinary woman, this wonderful woman from Manchester actually who went out to entertain the troops and stayed in Malta during the worst of the Blitz there. The Blitz there was as bad as the Blitz in London apparently. Malta was very strategic for Spitfires and for shipping and it became a real hotspot during World War Two.

“And while she was there she fell in love with this dashing Englishman who ended up the most decorated pilot in World War Two and they became this incredible golden couple. She fell in love with him and she joined the aircraft plotters, those people you see in the pictures where they're pushing round blocks on a board. She was deep underground in fighter control and she was plotting and it was especially poignant when her boyfriend was out flying on these impossible sorties and was being shot at. One day he just went missing and never came home. They didn't know what happened and they didn't actually find his remains until after she had died.

“But she stayed in Malta. She was a dancer and a singer. Her first visit to Malta was in 1937 and then she went off to Casablanca. She was on her way to Spain when the Spanish Civil War broke out and she was rescued by the Royal Navy. She kept bumping into bits of the war all over the place. But she was extraordinary, this singer and dancer who ended up being an RAF fighter control lady and winning the British Empire Medal. She was a local heroine and they were a golden couple but what she didn't know was that he had left a wife back home. He had got married and then had gone off the next day so it was never really a relationship. But after he died she stayed on Malta because as she said Malta had carved itself into her heart. When she was bombed out of her flat people came to her rescue. The local greengrocers and butchers would save special rations for her. She was a remarkable figure.”

Philip’s play has already been performed on Malta: “Valletta was the European capital of culture in 2018 and we did it in this wonderful rundown place Strait Street. Strait Street was where all the sailors went during the war and there were all these dives and establishments of dubious nature. They're trying to revive Strait Street now with some rather nicer buildings and we did it there and it was wonderful.”

Tickets £10 from the Festival of Chichester box office.