NOSTALGIA: Eastbourne's pioneering female parachutist was an inspiration

I wanted to write and say thank you to the people of Eastbourne that have been in contact with me and to the ones I have met since the publication of my letter regarding Mrs Elizabeth Sedgwick, writes Debra Wallace.

Mrs Sedgwick lived in Eastbourne and was known as Dolly Shepherd, who in her younger days was an Edwardian lady parachutist.

Since my letter to the Herald in August and its publication I have since visited Eastbourne in September and had a lovely visit and met wonderful people who had contacted me through reading my letter, which was also republished in the nostalgia pages in October.

A lot has happened since my visit to Eastbourne as in St Albans there had been a project called the Hertfordshire Hidden Heroines which started in December 2015.

It ran for a year and Dolly Shepherd was one of the heroines celebrated.

I am rather indebted to this project as last month the Hertfordshire Hidden Heroines Project Book was published and launched where Dolly Shepherd takes her place alongside well known figures including Queen Boudicca, Queen Elizabeth I, and suffragette campaigner Lady Constance Lytton of Knebworth House alongside present day modern heroines.

It really has only been through this project that the name Dolly Shepherd and her life as an Edwardian lady parachutist has been celebrated again and remembered in Hertfordshire, where she was of course born in 1886 at Potters Bar.

It has been such an honour for me to be part of and volunteer for this project that has produced four short films (one where I talk about my interest in Dolly Shepherd).

There has also been a HHH Theatre Show with a cast of 65 celebrating the Hertfordshire heroines which included Dolly Shepherd, played by myself, and a published book which includes the story of how I found out about Miss Shepherd both in paperback and in audio.

This project has truly produced a legacy to this county.

Outside my own personal research, which I still continue to do, I do hope that one day the name Dolly Shepherd will be officially celebrated and remembered again in the UK just as she was in her younger days.

I say this as her mentor and colleague, the Edwardian lady parachutist Viola Spencer-Kavanagh (Edith Maud Cook) will be remembered and honoured once her statue is mounted and unveiled in Ipswich where she was from.