Dame Vera Lynn tells care home residents 'in these difficult times it's so important to smile'

Staff and residents at a Poole care home were thrilled to receive a thank you letter from the wartime singer Dame Vera Lynn for the birthday card they sent her, bearing the message 'in these difficult times it's so important to smile'.

In mid-March, just as lockdown was imminent, staff and residents at Canford Chase decided to cheer themselves up by decorating a birthday card to send to Dame Vera Lynn in celebration of the iconic singer’s 103rd birthday.

Companionship team leader Julie Wathen said: “It was a rather wet and grey afternoon and everyone was naturally apprehensive about lockdown.

“Vera Lynn had just put out a public message, as her birthday was a couple of days later, encouraging everyone in Britain to ‘keep smiling through’, as she’d sung in the lyrics of We’ll Meet Again at the start of the Second World War.

“We decided to create a card for her as a fun activity to cheer us all up. I felt she was a great role model again for these troubled times and one our residents could really relate to. Her message about smiling seemed especially appropriate for us to rally behind.”

’In these difficult times, it’s so important to smile’

Dame Vera Lynn, born 20 March 1917, is a British singer and is known to the British public as the ‘Forces Sweetheart’ when she sang for the troops in Egypt, India, and Burma during the Second world War.

The singer is famous for her more notable songs being, ‘We'll Meet Again,’ ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ and ‘There'll Always Be an England.’

The greeting in the card wished Vera a very happy birthday, stating: ‘Here at Canford Chase, you will be pleased to know we are still smiling through.’

Three months on, all at the home were thrilled to receive a letter from the famous lady herself, typed and sent by a personal assistant, and addressed to ‘All the residents at Canford Chase’.

It read: 'Thank you so much for the beautiful handmade birthday card, which took pride of place on my mantelpiece.

'It was very special to see your happy faces and to know that you ‘keep smiling through.'

In these difficult times, it’s so important to smile and the beautiful yellow flowers in your photos are bright and cheery.

'I send you all my very best wishes and thank you again for taking the trouble to produce such a very special birthday card.'

Resident Doris Storey, who celebrated her 101st birthday in lockdown just after Dame Vera Lynn became 103, said: “It was so lovely that we did the card and photoshoot, and that Vera Lynn replied. She would obviously have had lots of cards.”

When Ms Wathen reminded Doris her birthday was around the same time as Dame Vera Lynn's, she laughed and said: “Not bad for a couple of old ones.”

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