Abbey service will honour Dame Thora

May 27 2003 By Andrew Baldwin, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Memorial event for acting star

A MEMORIAL service is to be held in Westminster Abbey for Last of the Summer Wine star Dame Thora Hird.

The actress - who died in March at the age of 91 - will be honoured on Monday, September 15.

Stars and friends will turn out to remember her life.

The service is being held at the abbey after an approach from Dame Thora's family.

Memorial services at the abbey in London are normally held for royalty and top politicians.

But officials agreed to have one for Dame Thora because of her charity work and religious broadcasting.

An abbey spokesman said: "She made a massive contribution to many people's lives."

Dame Thora died on March 10 after a massive stroke.

She was known to millions for a string of roles on stage, TV and radio as a plain-speaking chatterbox.

But her best-known role in recent years was as Edie in Last of the Summer Wine, filmed in Holmfirth.

She was in the show for 20 years.

Dame Thora starred in countless British post-war movies, as well as gentle comedies such as In Loving Memory.

But many people believe the highlight as her acting work came in the serious roles in Alan Bennett's series of Talking Heads plays.

A private funeral was held in March in Chichester, West Sussex, where Dame Thora had a home near her daughter, Jan.