Bury St Edmunds performer Gloria Stewart who founded The Berkeley Squares was 'the loveliest, most glamorous person you could meet'

A Bury St Edmunds performer who created a popular music hall group and was an ‘irreplaceable ray of sunshine’ has died aged 87.

Gloria Stewart founded four-piece The Berkeley Squares who played to packed audiences at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds with their beautifully costumed annual shows.

With Mary Alexander, Bryan Thurlow and accompanist Joyce Frost, they performed across the country and made several TV appearances.

Bryan said: “She was the most incredible person. Not only was she a great actress, singer and director - she created countless period-style costumes and extravagant hats for the stage.

“She was a talented painter and the loveliest, most glamorous person you could meet. She had a heart of gold and will be fondly remembered and missed by many people in the Bury area and, indeed across East Anglia.”

Born in 1934 in Brixton and originally known as Gloria Gorringe, she worked in Dickins and Jones department store in Regent Street and would meet stars leaving the London Palladium through the stage door.

Having moved to Bury St Edmunds between 1965-66 and, always keen on music hall songs, she came up with the idea of forming a company in 1972.

She approached Mary, Bryan and Joyce, all of whom she had worked with at the Theatre Royal.

Over the next 17 years, The Berkeley Squares developed a large following and she created their costumes.

The group went on to perform in fully-cast music hall shows at the Theatre Royal and The Spa Pavilion in Felixstowe.

Directed by Gloria, the shows featured her daughter Laura as well as a host of performers. Gloria’s son Nick, the Theatre Royal’s stage manager for many years, devised the lighting.

Aged 84, she directed her final production, a music hall show at the Theatre Royal, in 2019 raising thousands for the venue.

Granddaughter Grace, 25, said: “Gloria was the best person in any room. She loved everyone she met, from the checkout ladies to the postman, and you couldn’t help but love her back.

“She will be very sadly missed by her family and many friends as an irreplaceable ray of sunshine. If you met ‘Gloria Gorringe’ then you were one of the lucky ones.”

Her funeral is at West Suffolk Crematorium on October 20 at 2pm.

She also leaves son Steve and six grandchildren.