Oswestry has honoured one of its famous daughters - after a blue plaque dedicated to Dame Stephanie Shirley was unveiled in the town today.

Ground-breaking global IT entrepreneur, Dame Stephanie (Steve) Shirley CH, unveiled the plaque herself in front of a crowd of officials and well wishers at the Board Walk, on Thursday, August 26.

The 87-year-old, who is being commemorated for her outstanding contribution to British life and formative years in Oswestry, said she was both honoured and "a little embarrassed" to receive the tribute in a town which she said had given her peace and sanctuary having fled mainland Europe during the second world war.

"It's slightly embarrassing but I really am very proud. It's wonderful to be here in Oswestry - it brings back a lot of memories," she said.

"I had six years of peace and sanctuary here and it was just what I needed. You have to become part of the community and you have to be somewhere where you feel comfortable in your own skin.

"I found Oswestry very calming, I remember the cattle markets on a Wednesday and hearing a lot of Welsh spoken all around the town.

"I do feel sentimental about it - at home even our family cat was called Oswald!"

Dame Stephanie arrived in the UK as part of the evacuation of mainland Europe on one of the last Kindertransport trains out of Vienna in 1939, at the age of five, coming to Oswestry six years later to begin her education at Oswestry Girls High School.

In 1962, a little over a decade after leaving Oswestry, she started her pioneering software business employing women who worked on software coding from home.


And she says she hopes the town is as welcoming to new visitors today as it always has been.

"Oswestry is a bit more open to new cultures, certainly it was welcoming to the Jews who were leaving mainland Europe at the time," she added.

"The people here are open and welcoming and I hope people will be the same way today with the people fleeing Afghanistan.

"Individuals are welcoming and kind but politically this is an alien environment.

"I see the current issue from a humanitarian viewpoint, I'm not interested in politics, and I believe that the country really has to help, with the hand of friendship, and not just friendship, but of kindness."