THE 100th birthday of Helen Forrester is to be commemorated with a blue plaque outside the late author's former family home in Hoylake.

The unveiling will take place next spring and coincide with the opening of a national theatre tour of By The Waters Of Liverpool, a period drama based on her multi-million selling autobiography.

The 11-week tour opens at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton from March 3 to 8, 2020.

The tour will continue to Stockport, Warrington, St Helens, Lancaster, Crewe, Southport, Rhyl, Swansea, Darlington and Malvern.

It is produced by Wirral-based Pulse Records Limited in association with Bill Elms and directed by Gareth Tudor Price.

The stage play is written by New Brighton-based musician and playwright Rob Fennah, who was a friend of Helen's in the latter years of her life.

He said: "I first heard about the blue plaque last year when By The Waters Of Liverpool was premiered at the Liverpool Empire.

"I thought it was a fantastic idea and a fitting tribute to one of the UK's most loved authors.

"I will certainly be there at the unveiling."

Born on June 6, 1919, Helen's wealthy family were suddenly thrown into poverty when her father went bankrupt during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Leaving behind the nannies, servants and comfortable middle-class life in the gentler South West of England, the Forresters chose Liverpool as the place to rebuild their shattered lives. They were in for a terrible shock.

Rob Fennah has written both the stage play versions of Twopence To Cross The Mersey and By The Waters Of Liverpool.

Helen Forrester was born June Huband, in Hoylake, in 1919, the eldest of seven children of socialite middle-class parents who lived on credit.

When her father was made bankrupt during the Great Depression, the large family was thrown into poverty.

Evicted from their comfortable home in an English market town and with nothing more than the clothes they stood up in, they took the train to Liverpool, where they hoped to rebuild their lives.

Twopence to Cross the Mersey tells that story.

It was the first of an autobiographical trilogy that includes Liverpool Miss and By The Waters Of Liverpool.

Rob Fennah continued: "By The Waters of Liverpool is the third in a series of novels, and people may think they'll need to read the second book before they see the play.

"They won’t have too, because I have used some of the second book, Liverpool Miss, in the current Twopence play and use other parts of that book it in the new production.

"All three books have sold over a million copies, so I’m sure the new show will be equally successful.

"Everyone who sees Twopence wants to know what happened to Helen and By The Waters of Liverpool answers that question.

"It takes you right up to when she was in her 20s and living through the war.

"It's a totally different show to Twopence.

"Helen is an adult and this part of her story is really powerful and moving."

During the course of his work on the musical version of Twopence, Rob built up a relationship with Helen, who was very much involved in the project. She died, aged 92, in Canada in November 2011.

She would often send Rob faxes and letters of encouragement together with all sorts of additional information that didn't appear in her books.

Recalling his friendship with Helen, Rob said during the show's launch: "Helen's grandmother lived in Warren Road, Hoylake.

"I went to Hoylake Parade school and used to deliver newspapers as boy in Warren Road.

"It's funny because the last time I saw Helen, she was promoting one of her books.

"We met at the King's Gap Hotel in Hoylake and I asked where her grandmother lived. She said 'I'll show you'.

"So, we put our cups down walked me round the corner to what was the family home in Warren Road. I remembered it because it was a house I used to deliver papers to as a kid.

"It was quite a poignant moment for me, although I didn’t know it at the time, that this would be her last visit to the UK.

"I was the last person she was with when she last set eyes on her grandmother's home."

Tickets for the Floral Pavilion leg of the tour are from www.floralpavilion.com or 0151 666 0000.

For updates on the tour see www.bythewatersofliverpool.com or www.facebook.com/ByTheWatersThePlay