A birthday gift, from the Besties, found us in the ornate Devonshire Theatre, in Eastbourne. Our adventure this evening, would take us back to a time, shortly before we were born.
New Year’s Eve 1959, to be precise and we find the landlady of The Spitfire pub, getting ready for patrons to celebrate the arrival of a New Year and New Decade. The record player filled the room with music, as its needle passed over the disc, keeping her company as she worked.
There’s a loud knock at the door and she shouts out to a regular punter, that he’s too early and she’s not open for business yet. Another loud knock and disgruntled, she shouts again as she goes to open the door. She steps back in surprise as a woman enters. She seems to know the woman and they chat for a short while, reminiscing before the lights dim and the stage props are reset.
As the lights rise again we have been transported back to WW2, with two sisters discussing how they can “do their bit” for the war effort. The elder has applied to join the Air Transport Auxiliary. As she explains that the role is to deliver planes to the RAF and Navy and to also deliver supplies, her sister is mesmerised and decides she should apply too.
Weeks later their father opens one of the acceptance letters and forbids the younger sister to go, as she is needed on the family farm. However the older sister advises she is also going and they will look after each other.
The play follows their journey through training, to the comradery in the billets and evenings at the bar after a long day of missions. Two. very different personalities, the younger sister thrives, whilst the older is torn between duty to her country, working back on the farm and staying to care for her sister. Their father once again tries to force them home but they remain strong in their desire to help the war effort and their commander advises their father it is his daughters decision.
There are hilarious tales of mishaps and close shaves and the story of love as the younger sister becomes engaged to a pilot. Through music and dance, we feel the thrill of trundling down the runway for take off and the exhilaration of soaring high above the clouds, never diminishing no matter how many flights they undertook.
But there is also dismay as her fiancé is killed during a mission. She vows to continue in his memory. One morning the older sister doesn’t arrive for her flight, due to being hungover from the night before. The younger sister decides to take on the mission, in a plane she hasn’t flown before. After take off, bad weather moves in and she unfortunately crashes and sadly dies.
We are then transported back to the Spitfire Pub, New Year’s Eve 1959 and as the women continue talking, about how they were going to open a pub and call it the Spitfire, we realise that the visitor is in fact the younger sister. She has come to tell her sister she must stop blaming herself for the crash and to enjoy life as best she can.
She leaves as opening time arrives. The older sister unlocks the door to the pub, and her regular punters roll in ready to see in the New Year and she seems at peace.
It is a poignant, yet entertaining play, based on the extraordinarily true stories of women, who albeit only for a short time, became unsung heroines assisting our front line heros.
As we have recently seen the 80th anniversary of VE Day, these stories become more poignant as the war generation diminishes. My generation will then become the ones who need to ensure the stories are never forgotten.
🎁A moving yet lovely birthday gift 🎁
