FINEST HOUR - Winston Churchill

On the Map in the UKFourteen months of progress culminated in impressivesuccess for ICS as a United Kingdom registered charity.BY DAVID BOLER, CHAIRMAN, ICS UNITED KINGDOMSPEECH AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, CHARTWELLTHE fourteen months sincewe last met at Chartwell forthe last AGM have seen aperiod of exciting development forour Society, and I would like togive you a brief report on theyear's activities.We have expended a considerableamount of work and energy indeveloping our administration procedures.Our first task was to addressthe issue of Friends. For thiswe produced a new brochure forboth prospective U.K. and Internationalmembers. These are nowstrategically placed at Chartwell,the Cabinet War Rooms, Blenheimand Bletchley Park.We have established an ICS Office,and Joan Harris has set upour own computer and printer system.We have a dedicated telephoneline with fax and answerphone. We have also acquired ourown franking machine. We areparticularly grateful to Friend ofICS James Lancaster for verykindly donating a photocopier tocomplete our office machineryneeds. Along with desks, filingcabinets and the usual office paraphernalia,this represents a substantialinvestment to provide furtherimproved service to all.We have succeeded in the Committee'saim of holding four eventsper annum. Many of you attendedsome or all of these: the first was adinner to commemorate the 130thAnniversary of the birth of SirWinston Churchill in Novemberlast year, held at the In and OutClub in Piccadilly, attended by 150people. We were delighted that theEarl Jellicoe and Lady Soameswere our guest speakers. Theprofit generated from this dinnerenabled us to make our first evercharitable donation, to EdinburghUniversity.Our second event, also in November,was a talk by CeliaSandys at Chartwell on her timethere as a child. Celia also spokeabout her successful book "FromWinston with Love and Kisses"and signed copies for those present.On 29th January this year weheld a Service at St. Mary'sChurch, Bladon, to commemoratethe Thirtieth Anniversary of thedeath of Sir Winston. One hundredthirty ICS Friends, and seeminglyall the members of the Churchilland Marlborough families, werepresent for a most moving service,organised by our Patron, LadySoames.Our grand finale, for that iswhat it was, was of course our VE-Day Fiftieth Anniversary Dinnerheld May 8th at the Imperial WarMuseum, splendidly organised byour indefatigable Vice-Chairman,Wylma Wayne. We had 300 people,a Pol Roger Champagne reception,a Pru Leith dinner, a guest list thatincluded Sir Edward Heath, GeneralSir Peter de la Billiere, GeneralSir Michael Rose, six ambassadors,many members of theChurchill family and guests fromaround the world, including ICS,USA President Richard Langworth,and of course, Sir Martin Gilbert. Icannot praise Wylma enough forher efforts; this dinner significantlyraised our profile and the benefitsare already being felt in increasedmembership enquiries. Not leastwere the funds generated by thisevent. We are, after all, a charity.And, thanks to substantial sponsorshipfrom, amongst others, ExpressGroup Newspapers, the funds generatedabove expenses approachedFINEST HOUR 88/22five figures. Your Committee willbe investigating ways in which wewill use this money to pursue ourstated aims of teaching the nextgeneration about Sir WinstonChurchill.A few words about future functions:after tonight's talk and booksigning by Martin Gilbert, ournext event is being organised byGlynne Jenkins, details of whichwill be advised to you in duecourse. It is appropriate at thismoment to tell you a little bitabout our plans for the future.Objectives: Our overriding priorityobjective is to increase ourrolls, and to supply Friends with avariety of functions, whilst alwaysstriving to "keep the memorygreen and the record accurate,"and, of course, "teach the next generation."Execution: We plan to continueto hold a minimum of four events ayear. Our next event will be in theautumn. We plan to hold an annualdinner. There are a numberof books now published which wemay associate ourselves with, includingAnthony MontagueBrowne's Long Sunset and CeliaSandys's sequel on Young Winstonand the Boer War. More on all thisas the year progresses.It is appropriate, I feel, at thispoint to congratulate Sir MartinGilbert on his knighthood.We soon hope to organise anICS speechmaking competition,initially on a local level around thevenue of Harrow School. ICSTrustee Richard Haslam-Hopwoodis coordinating this event, and Iunderstand he is getting good supportfrom potential sponsors, sothere is much to look forward to.continued on page 46