Sussex PR company founder and friend of Dame Vera Lynn gets MBE in Queen’s New Year Honours

Susan Fleet, managing director of Lea Graham Associates, received the MBE for services to music, charity and fundraising over the past five decades.

She founded the Cantemus Choir and chaired the Burgess Hill Business Park Association, as well as acting as PA to the late Dame Vera Lynn.

Susan has also led large choirs and organised big events that have raised millions, as well as solo concerts with her own Lea Graham Quartet.

“In accepting the MBE, it really has to go to all the hundreds of singers who have worked with me over the past 50 years,” said Susan, 64.

“An awful lot of people, knowing that I was raising money for charities, have been willing to come and support me and sing with me,” she said.

Susan was born in Burgess Hill and attended London Road School and Oakmeeds, performing her first charity concert at St Andrews Church when she was 13.

“I was actually told when I was eight that I couldn’t sing and I was asked to leave the choir at primary school,” said Susan.

But she said a secondary school teacher discovered she had a good voice and told the school’s music master, which led to singing lessons.

“Both my brothers were singers as well,” said Susan.

“They’d never pursued it in any way but they were in the church choir,” she said, adding that she wanted to be in the choir too but the choir did not allow girls to join.

“I just couldn’t understand why girls couldn’t be allowed at choir,” said Susan.

To appease her she said the curate, the vicar and the organist let her put on a church concert of her own, which is how her charity shows started.

In addition to singing, Susan founded Lea Graham Associates 36 years ago, one of the oldest PR agencies in Sussex and a highly respected entertainment agency.

She said her diverse career has been rewarding because it has allowed her to do all the things she enjoys most.

“I enjoy writing and I enjoy organising entertainment, so it’s combining my two great interests,” she said.

Susan has also appeared as leading soprano in every Gilbert & Sullivan Opera, having ‘a life-long passion for Gilbert and Sullivan’, as well as many musicals.

In 2017 she recorded a jazz CD with renowned singer and BBC radio presenter Claire Martin OBE, with all the proceeds going to The Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity.

“I wanted to do something for Dame Vera’s 100th birthday,” said Susan, adding that her late husband Graham suggested a fundraising album.

She had previously met Claire Martin through her work connections and Claire offered to produce the CD, called ‘Dedication to a Songbird’, which was recorded at her house.

Sadly, Susan lost her husband and business partner to Covid last year.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do most of this without him because he was a wonderful support to me and I was with him for 47 years,” she said.

Susan said her friendship with Dame Vera Lynn started when she met the singer at a Christmas house party in the 1970s.

“I spent all evening with a delightful couple in the corner of the room,” she said.

“We chatted and we laughed and they were great company and I recognised her but I didn’t know who she was really.”

“The following evening I saw her on television – it was Vera Lynn,” said Susan.

She said their paths ‘crossed many times’ and the pair teamed up for various charity events, becoming good friends in the process.

Susan is still involved with Dame Vera Lynn’s legacy and is working with the singer’s daughter Virginia Lewis Jones on various projects and exhibitions.

The Dame Vera Lynn Memorial Statue, for example, launched in June 2021, and aims to create a permanent tribute to her on the White Cliffs at Dover.

Susan is also a former board member and current ambassador of Gatwick Diamond Business and a past Patron of the Samaritans.

She said she has ‘no intention of retiring’ but is downsizing her business to make it a smaller operation.

She also plans to keep putting on charity concerts.

“There’s always plenty to do so I just look forward to new challenges and count my blessings that I’ve been here for so long and that I’ve got wonderful friends in the area that are a great support to me,” she said.

“I’m sure I wouldn’t have got this MBE if it had not been for those hundreds of friends over the years that have taken part in those concerts.”

Visit www.leagraham.com.