THE annual celebration of the life of a Second World War heroine will take place in Wormelow this month.

Special Operations Executive field operative Violette Szabo died at Ravensbruck concentration camp just weeks before the end of the war in 1945 aged just 23.

Following a successful first mission in France, Violette and two colleagues were captured by the Second SS Panzer Division after being parachuted in the Limoges area on June 8, 1944.

Alongside her companions, Denise Bloch and Lilian Rolfe, she was imprisoned before being transported to Germany, where all three women were incarcerated first at Saarbrucken Transit Camp and then Ravensbruck and Torgau. They were later returned to Ravensbruck, where they were executed in February 1945.

Violette spent many childhood holidays at Cartref in Tump Lane, where the event will be held at the museum which bears her name.

Taking place on Bastille Day, July 14, this year's anniversary event is set to celebrate friendship and unity.

There will be a parade and several speakers at the event, to which organiser Rosemary Rigby says all are welcome.

And in the spirit of friendship, a very special French flag will be on display on the day.

Presented by Hereford Mayor, councillor Kath Hey, the flag is a gift to the museum from the people of Hereford's twin town in France, Vierzon.

The gift came after Hereford hosted a group of young ladies from the French city last October.

While in the county, the group visited the Violette Szabo museum, a place of great interest, as Violette was a French heroine too.

The parade will set off from the garage in Wormelow at 1.30pm on July 14, heading towards the Violette Szabo Museum on Tump Lane, where the event will take place.