WHEN it came to show business and fundraising, there were few to equal Daphne Miles.

She organised more than 2,000 shows and raised thousands of pounds for charities and other good causes during a long career as a dance teacher.

We were reminded of her contribution to entertainment in Oxford when her nephew, Robin Godfrey, sent in two pages of a programme for a show she organised in December, 1960.

Entitled New Faces, it was held at the Morris Motors’ club at Cowley in aid of Blesma, the British Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association.

It featured The Harlequins, a 26-strong amateur group of young entertainers from the East London suburbs.

The Oxford Mail reported at the time: “This group of young Londoners, formed by Miss Miles, was presenting its most ambitious show to date.

“Items included guitar and accordion playing and the singing of popular numbers from musicals, with appropriate staging and costuming.”

Several guest artists from Oxford also took part, although we don’t have any names.

However, we do know that the compere was Francis Clark and the pianists were Constance McDougall, Ivy Barratt and Tony Stubbings.

The names of the production team were also given – John Eddy (stage director), Ann and Janet Lafford (assistant stage directors), George Beesley (lighting), Thomas Alford (box office), Gladys Yeatman (wardrobe), Dorothy Beesley ( head-dresses and wigs) and Frederick Beesley, Tony Dowse and Kevin Charteris (props).

Born Dorothy Miller, Miss Miles adopted the stage name of Daphne Miles when she moved from London to Oxford in 1940 to escape the London Blitz.

She set up the Daphne Miles School of Dancing and she and her pupils put on numerous shows.

Among those to benefit were the Oxford Eye Hospital rebuilding fund, the Red Cross, Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Merchant Navy comforts fund as well as Blesma.

They also entertained many wounded British and American servicemen.

She left Oxford in the late 1950s and returned to London to live with her sister, Irene, whose husband had died.

While in London, she set up the Harlequins, a revue group of amateur singers and musicians, and also established the Lyndhurst School of Dancing.

She wrote a ballet which her pupils performed at a gala concert attended by Princess Alexandra in 1978.

After her sister died in 1985, Miss Miles came back to Oxford and spent her last years in St Luke’s Nursing Home in Headington. She died in 1998, aged 92.