Hastings friends in Eastbourne stage celebration of wartime bravery

The piece comes to the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne from April 15-19 – inspired by the extraordinary true stories of the women who dared to fly during WWII and the incredible bond that tied them together.

Their role as ATAs (Air Transport Auxiliaries) was to deliver planes to where they needed to be – whether it was taking them from the factories to the squadrons or taking them to the factories to be fixed.

Ros said: “We have started looking at history with a slightly different lens and I think we're becoming much better at seeing women's stories. Almost all of our stories that we have been told about the two world wars are so masculine dominated, so it is great that stories like this are now being told. And they are fascinating. The bravery of these women! It wasn't just women but so many of these women had never flown before. They were taught to fly and they were expected to fly any plane from single-engine planes right up to great big huge aircraft. And all these planes had different personalities. They had a little book in which the differences between all the planes were set out but sometimes they would be expected to fly a plane that they had never flown before, just expected to do it and all without radio for fear that they would be intercepted by the Germans. They would just have to fly very low so they could see where they were going and memorise the maps and work out the maths as they went along. I just think it is so remarkable what they did.”

Playing Ros’s sister in the piece is Laura: “I didn't know at the time that my very good friend Laura was also put forward for this play. We actually trained together back in the day at Bristol Old Vic and since then we have worked together a few times. We did a tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Merchant of Venice several years ago so it is just so great to be reunited with each other on the stage. I admire her hugely and that definitely helps when you're working together!

“And it is all her fault that I'm in Hastings which is actually the best decision that I ever made! I was living back with my parents in Norfolk at the time (of Covid), and it was just being back in the countryside that really solidified for me that I was no longer interested in city living, that I wanted the greenery and the open spaces. I was mulling it over and I had a conversation with Laura who didn't know that I was thinking about moving and she was just waxing lyrical about how wonderful Hastings is, how there is always something going on, an array of festivals and a really strong artistic connection. And living by the sea... I just thought it was somewhere I'd love to be. I went to have a look just on a whim. The housing market was just going crazy and you had five minutes to look around and then it was a couple of hours in which to make your offer so it was a really hasty decision but it was the best decision that I ever made!

“Hastings still has a reputation from the 80s and 90s when there was a real problem with addiction and I'm not saying that that has gone away now. It is still there. And I do feel guilty about being part of the gentrification but on the other hand I would like to think that the influx of people into the town that are interested in making their home there and in really strengthening the community has got to be a good thing.”