Winston Churchill lookalike at Herefordshire RAF Hurricane flypast

Rosemary Rigby created the unique museum in Wormelow, near Ross-on-Wye, after discovering her cottage was once the holiday home of war heroine Violette Szabo.

WW2 heroine Violette Szabo and her husband Etienne. Picture: SWNS

Violette was a French-born British agent, specifically a Special Operations Executive, during the Second World War, carrying out many undercover missions in France.

She was captured by the Nazis and executed in a concentration camp at just 23 – and posthumously awarded the George Cross.

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But as the sun shone down on Herefordshire on Sunday (July 10), well-wishers turned up at Wormelow Tump to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Violette – complete with a flypast from a WWII Hawker Hurricane fighter plane with a Winston Churchill lookalike watching on.

Dozens of people turned out to celebrate the 100th anniversary of World War Two spy Violette Szabo at a museum dedicated to her in Wormelow, near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. Picture: Will Dallimore/Tewkesbury YMCA Movie Makers

The event to mark 100 years since Violette's birth was originally set for 2021, but was postponed due to the Covid pandemic.

But finally going ahead in 2022, a parade from the Park in Wormelow down to the museum was headed by highland piper Simon Addison and the final stage of the march was led by the racehorse named after Violette Szabo and rode by her usual jockey Faye McManoman.

Racehorse Violette Szabo with jockey Faye McManoman at the 100th anniversary celebrations of the spy. Picture: Will Dallimore/Tewkesbury YMCA Movie Makers

After assembling in front of the museum for a group photograph, a one-minute silence was observed followed by the hymn Jerusalem sung by Ruby Ann.

A message was played from actress Virginia McKenna including a heartfelt rendition of Violette's poem "The Life That I Have".

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There then followed the speeches, from invited guests, including international author Sophie Poldermans and also Tania, Violette's daughter.

During the closure of the Violette Szabo GC museum for the pandemic, it enabled the doubling of its size by the addition of a reading room.

Rosemary Rigby in the new reading room of the Violette Szabo GC Museum in Wormelow. Picture: Will Dallimore/Tewkesbury YMCA Movie Makers

The builder who took on this job was Joe Price, and Rosemary Rigby took time to pay tribute to his work and his family.

The opening of the reading room was then performed when the ribbon was cut by the Mayor of Lambeth Pauline George, the area of London where Violette once lived.