YESTERYEAR: When Winifred visited Luton's Cresta Ballroom
We’ve absolutely no idea why there’s a dog with pups sitting on her piano. Perhaps they belonged to Winifred or someone who worked at the venue.
Born in Tunapuna, Trinidad, Winifred had a series of boogie woogie and ragtime hits in the 1950s.
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Hide AdHer concerts drew standing-room-only crowds across Europe and Australia and she played three Royal Variety performances.
At a private party for Queen Elizabeth II, she was called back for an encore by the monarch herself, who requested Roll Out The Barrel. Winifred became a firm TV favourite and had her own series. Her brilliant career earned her a fortune and it would have extended further to the USA but for race issues.
She settled in Australia but suffered a stroke in 1980 and died three years later, aged 69, after a heart attack while staying with friends following an electrical fire that destroyed her home.
PHOTO 2: Ladies in the kitchen at the Corn Exchange, Market Hill, Luton, in December 1944.