Photograph: Dymond/Thames/Syco/Shutterstock

Staff recently attended a memorial service for Audrey at St Paul’s, Covent Garden on the day before her birthday.

Former Britain’s Got Talent star and St Giles Almshouse resident died aged 95 in December 2022.  The veteran singer and actress won hearts on the ITV talent show in May 2018 (aged 90), belting out I Wanna Be Loved By You from the 1928 musical ‘Good Boy’.  She had a successful career in the entertainment business for over seventy years and was working until a couple of years before her passing.

Audrey had lived at St Giles Almshouses since 2005.  By 2022 she was our eldest and longest serving resident.  She was an energetic and valuable member of the community who always made you feel better having seen her.

The Revd Simon Grigg said, “She was a remarkable person, a real ‘trouper’ of an actress (starting her career with Sir Donald Wolfit, no less) and a much-loved member of St Paul’s.  She had a last message for you all.  She said to me, ‘If I pop off, tell everyone I don’t regret a thing.  I’ve had a wonderful life.’  Quite a statement.  Quite a lady.  Quite a Christian.”

At the memorial service, a special commemorative plaque was unveiled in her honour within St Paul’s Church.