Actress Dame Sheila Hancock has said we must thank veterans by “making sure that we make a better world” ahead of the Victory in Europe (VE) Day 80 concert.
The 92-year-old English actress who starred in EastEnders and sitcoms including The Rag Trade, Mr Digby Darling and Now, Take My Wife, was evacuated as a child during the Second World War.
Dame Sheila is due to appear at the VE Day concert on Thursday, alongside Dames Joan Collins and Mary Berry, to lend their voices in commemoration of the Second World War and pay tribute to those who served and sacrificed.
Speaking on The One Show, Dame Sheila said: “I pray that now, rather than looking back and thanking the veterans, we thank them by making sure it doesn’t happen again, and making sure that we make a better world, the only way we are going to solve the huge problems that we have in the world is to unite, love and care for one another worldwide, not within the country.
“That is the greatest gift that we can give for the lovely people who gave their lives for us.”
The English actress is best known for her roles on the stage and has taken home an Olivier for Cabaret as well as received Bafta nods for thriller The Russian Bride and sitcom Bedtime.
She has also been nominated for a Tony Award for the play Entertaining Mr Sloane.
Dame Sheila added: “I was evacuated as well at one stage. So how they (Sheila’s parents) allowed a seven-year-old child to go away with a label on her? I ran away and I came back. But I mean, it was, it was a terrible time for everybody, and we must never forget, the war is absolutely dreadful.
“The thing I remember, and I generally do remember this, my dad kissed my mum on the forehead. And I don’t know whether that was because they were saying, ‘Thank God these last few years are over’, or whether he was sort of saying, ‘We’ve got to have the strength now to build up again where destitute, the whole place is ruined, and we have to build a new world’. I don’t know. But I mean, people didn’t kiss, they didn’t hold one another in those days, for us kids, it was wonderful.
“(My Dad) said to me, ‘Sheila, this must never happen again. And it’s down to you’. That’s rather what I feel that we need to say to this generation, it’s not all lovely parties in the street, it’s not all jubilation.
“It’s down to you to change this world.”
