Marion Wilberforce

Thanks to the work of Basildon Borough Heritage Society, a plaque was unveiled on 9 August at Nevendon Manor, north of the Essex Town, to commemorate pioneering  aviation Marion Wilberforce, who lived there for 40 years. With the support of Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Jennifer Tolhurtst, a team led by theatre director and filmmaker Graham Watts researched Wilberforce's life.

Born in Aberdeenshire in 1902, she studied agriculture and was a keen mountaineer before gaining her pilot's licence, and went on to become one of the first eight women to join the Air Transport Auxiliary in World war Two, flying Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster bombers.