Winston Churchill and My Nan

On Gavin's Station one of the recent topics has been heroes and a name that has cropped up a few times is Winston Churchill. I have mixed views about Churchill in that I can't separate the inspirational war time leader from the racist views he held privately although I have to say that A History of The English Speaking People's is for my money the best collection of literature published this side of Shakespeare. It is as one reviewer wrote "Literature as Art," the language may be dated but the richness of that language and the knowledge it imparts are quite sumptuous, if that isn't a daft word to describe a four volume work.

Anyway despite my reservations about the man he actually did something for my family in 1945 that went unreported in the news of the day and yet if it were to happen now would probably take on a media life of its own.

In 1941 my paternal Grandparents were evacuated from the East End to Roydon in Hertfordshire along with my Dad who was 4 years old at the time. Although my Grandad was called up for service in Germany my Dad and Nan stayed there and were joined in December 1942 by my Uncle who was born in Roydon. Anyway in June 1944 the family were alllowed to return to London and whilst in London my Dad became ill and spent a year in hospital due to problems with his lungs. When my Dad was allowed to leave hospital it was decided that he would recover better if the family moved back to Roydon which is where they would stay until 1947 when my Grandad returned from Germany and they could all move out to Hornchurch in Essex. Back in Roydon in June 1945 my Nan quickly relaised that my Dad had a five mile walk to school and that having been off school for a year in hospital it wasn't going to help his recovery if he had a ten mile walk everyday and that was assuming he didn't come home for lunch!

She wrote a letter to Winston Churchill and asked if there was anyway that he could influence the Essex Education Committee (although Roydon was in Herts it came under Essex jurisdiction) to arrange for the school bus to be diverted. Churchill wrote back and said that although he couldn't directly influence the people in charge of school transport he could arrange for a car to pick my Dad up from home and take him to school.

So my Dad was carried like little Lord Fountleroy in an unmarked government car for the remainder of the 1945 summer term. Once the summer holidays had finished the school bus was re-routed and he was able to catch the bus. For Churchill things didn't work out quite so well in the short term, just a few weeks after arranging transport for my Dad he lost the 1945 election on 26th July. I can still remember my Nan mentioning this episode whenever Churchill's name came up in conversation, it was a small gesture for Churchill to make but one that had a big impact for my Dad.