THE annual garden party to celebrate the life of Violette Szabó, the Anglo/French spy who died during the Second World War, is taking place at the museum dedicated to her at Wormelow on Sunday.

The museum, located in the grounds of Cartref Cottage on Tump Lane, is where Violette spent childhood holidays. It is curated by Rosemary Rigby, Violette’s aunt, who will host the many civic dignitaries and serving members and former members of the Women’s Royal Air Force.

The museum is based around the life and times of Violette Szabó, a Special Operations Executive, a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe.

Violette Szabó was later executed at Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 23, alongside fellow agents Lillian Rolfe and Denise Bloch whose exploits are also acknowledged at the museum.

And this year’s event will feature a historian who will explore the lives of two Polish Second World War spies.

Author Clare Mulley will talk about Krystyna Skarbek and Elżbieta Zawacka, two Polish women who risked their lives working behind enemy lines during the war.

The award-winning biographer is known for her work in highlighting women’s roles in the Second World War. She has also written the biography about the Polish spy Krystyna Skarbek entitled The Spy Who Loved.

Krystyna Skarbek was also part of the British Special Operations Executive who operated in Poland, Hungary, the Middle East, and occupied France.

Krystyna Skarbek, also known as Christine Granville, embarked on numerous daring missions and the intelligence she gathered earned her the Croix de Guerre, a celebrated military decoration instituted in both France and Belgium to recognise acts of heroism and valour during combat.

She was also awarded the British OBE and George Medal, the second-highest civil decoration for gallantry, ranking just below the George Cross and was said to be the war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill’s favourite spy.

The author will also talk about Elżbieta Zawacka who served as a courier for the Polish resistance and crossed the international borders more than 100 times to deliver reports and supplies between occupied Poland and the government-in-exile.

In 1943 she arrived in London and trained as a paratrooper and in doing so beame the only woman to be included as part of the elite Cichociemni, translated as The Silent and were elite special-operations paratroopers who operated in occupied Poland and took part in the Warsaw Uprising.

This year’s garden party, which starts with a parade from the village’s war memorial at 1.30pm on July 12 – the Sunday closest to Bastille Day, as this is when Violette met her future husband, Etienne Szabó in 1940.

The garden party includes music from the war-time era, and this year marks a real connection between the stories of the five female resistance members and the sacrifices they made during the war.