Greetings to my fellow Churchillians! I recently returned to the US from an incredible visit to the UK and Belgium. There were many highlights to savour and remember--including breakfast with Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert, at St Pancras Station, and meeting Mr. Allen Packwood, the Archivist at the Churchill Archives at Churchill College, Cambridge. Mr. Packwood showed me several of Churchill's childhood and young adult letters to his mother, and part of one of Churchill's photograph albums.
I was also able to visit the Churchill War Rooms in London, and found them to be SO fascinating! The Imperial War Museum is to be commended, for all the work they did in restoring the War Rooms; I really felt like I was part of what was going on in those rooms, in 1940 and 1941. I took a whole lot of photographs, and listened intently to the commentaries on the mobile devices provided. I also visited Ypres, Belgium, from 10-13 November, and saw the plaque about Mr. Churchill's Great War service, at Ploegsteert, on the city hall's wall (I think that's what it was). I wasn't able to get a photo of that, however; I was on a Great War battlefields tour. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to Blenheim Palace, or to Bladon. The logistics of getting to Oxford and back were too much, in the time allotted. But I am very hopeful of returning to the UK in the near future, and putting them on my itinerary. At least I was able to buy a US DVD copy of Mr. Churchill's funeral service in 1965, so I can watch it on my computer. And I also bought a copy of "The WIcked Wit of Winston Churchill", which has provided many moments of laughter! If anyone wants to hear more about my Cabinet War Rooms visit, please email me. Thanks for letting me post here; I am always learning something new and interesting about Churchill here! Sincerely, (Ms.) Pat Finnegan -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
