Dame Vera Lynn was guest of honour at a sell-out concert staged by North West Surrey Synagogue to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the late bandleader, Joe Loss.

It was organised by his daughter Jennifer Loss Jankel, an active member and past chair of the Weybridge-based Reform congregation, both as a tribute to her father and to raise funds for the shul and the Joe Loss Lectureship at the University of London. It featured music and entertainment from the Joe Loss Orchestra and Singing Stars, led by Todd Miller.

The programme included a sequence of the best-known songs of Dame Vera, who became a friend of the bandleader after making her first broadcast with his orchestra in 1938. The concert finale was a rendition of her signature tune, We’ll Meet Again.

Members of Dame Vera’s family were also among the 300-strong audience, as well as diehard fans, some of whom had travelled long distances.

“The evening was like reliving my childhood in two hours,” said Mrs Loss Jankel afterwards.

“Organising this event was an opportunity to remember my mother and father and to honour my dad’s Jewish roots and his passion for music.”