The Churchill Society
London.

The truth is incontrovertible.
Panic may resent it,
ignorance may deride it,
malice may distort it,
but there it is.

_________

Search the web site.

__________

Correspondence with Chartwell

and

THE NATIONAL TRUST.

Dishonesty at the Chartwell Gift Shop.

__________

A copy of this e mail and the ensuing correspondence was sent on June 10th 2004 to the

Head Office

of

THE NATIONAL TRUST.

__________

Background.
__________

Below is the text of e mail dated April 22nd 2004

sent by the society to the Staff at the Chartwell Gift Shop.

 

Dear (Gift Shops staff names deleted)

We were sorry to miss you when my wife and I called. It was a sudden decision of ours to spend Easter in Winchester so we went there via Chartwell and dropped off some stock as your managers will have informed you. I hope you had a very good Easter.

I was very surprised to see that no CDs of our stock of any sort were on display - but even more dismayed that you were selling versions of Churchill's Speeches CDs at the astounding price of £16.95 each. (sixteen pounds ninety five pence).

You will get the NT Gift shops a very bad name at this price for the public can purchase any type of CD of Churchill's speeches - both before and during the war - both single and double CDs - at never more that £9.99 to £12 each.

Churchill's war time speeches can be bought in many places including CDs air mailed to the USA for just £9.99.

I was particularly dismayed when your manager told me that you had taken Enoch Powell's wonderful tribute to Churchill off the shelves because she said people had objected.

When I informed the committee here of this statement they found it unbelievable..

The Chairman and committee have asked me to ask you personally who was the person who objected. They have also asked me to investigate the matter further.

Enoch Powell and his wife Pamela both worked for Churchill - they therefore knew him better than many others and greatly loved him. To prove it just listen to the CD.

Churchill suffered in his wilderness years the same scorn and deep hurt that Enoch had to endure - but in Enoch's case right until his death. It hardly needs saying - but, if the nation had paid heed to Enoch Powell's warnings and his repeated calls for a British Nationality Act to be passed by Parliament - we should not being living in such fear today.

You let Churchill down very badly indeed (and also your members and the the public) if you fail to restore Powell's wonderful CD tribute to the shelves.

I trust we shall not have to do what our Chairman demands and that is to refer this matter to your Head Office. Please assure me that this most grievous mistake will be instantly put right.

Your manager told me that the reason there were none of the Society's CDs on display was because you had sold out. But this statement does not conform with your written stock statement of what you sold last year - see below. Your sales last year were frankly lamentable and clearly show that they had not been displayed - for reasons only the NT at Chartwell know.

Why is it that the Imperial War Museum can instantly sell the stock they purchase outright and you at Chartwell with the thousands of visitors you receive cannot sell more than 10 in a whole year? There must be another explanation for this and our committee are restless and upset about the matter. They have asked me to fully enquire into this state of affairs and report back. I therefore look to you or your managers for an explanation.

I confirm - all the profits from the sale of all the Society's CDs go towards the educational work of the society and we would expect Chartwell to support the work of the Society.

It appears that the CDs we had made with special Chartwell jackets all sold. The cost of designing and printing those special and very attractive jackets was born entirely by the Society in a bid to win over Chartwell and the NT 's support for the Society. We have lost money to date over them. In spite of the fact that they were sold at a 100% profit for the NT. you did not call for any more. Why?

We can arrange for batches of these to be produced exclusively for Chartwell at about the same price again, but we shall require written orders for a minimum of a hundred at a time. This is because freight is expensive.

I am sorry to sound so abrupt in this e mail, but clearly something is seriously amiss at the Chartwell Gift Shop.

With kind regards

Sincerely.

 

The Secretary.

Norman Harvey-Rogers.

 

The Churchill Society London.

c/o Ivy House.

18 Grove Lane.

Ipswich. Suffolk.

___________________________________

 

The above e mail was forwarded by the Gift Shop Staff to Mr Terry Lynch (Operations Manager for NT Gift Shops)

______________________________

 

He replied as follows:-

 

The National Trust.
Polsden Lacey.
Dorking.
Surrey.

5th May 2004

 

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY
London
c/o 18 Grove Lane
Ipswich Suffolk
England
IP4 1NR

Dear Sir

Thank you for your e mail dated 22nd April.

The Churchill related merchandise we stock at Chartwell is a joint decision between the National Trust buying department and the Property as explained to Mrs O'Hanlon be e mail on the 30th April 2003.

We have been selling your CDs for the last 3 to 4 years with only limited success.

Last year we sold 8 CDs and 4 cassettes, and based on these sales we have decided that we no longer wish to stock your product.

I have instructed the manager to return the stock to you.

Thank you for your support over the last four years.

 

Terry Lynch.

Administator

Regional Buying Office.

The National Trust.
Polsden Lacey.
Dorking.
Surrey.

 

_____________________________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY

London.

 

24/5/2004

The National Trust
Polsden Lacey
Dorking
Surrey
RH5 6BD

Dear Mr Lynch

Your letter dated 5th May 2004 addressed to me with your peremptory decision to return the Society's stock of CDs at Chartwell was forwarded to the Chairman and committee together with copies of all correspondence relating the history of the Churchill Society sales at the Chartwell Gift Shop.

The committee were dismayed at your letter, the more so, when they realised that both you as Regional Operations Manager and the managers of the Chartwell Gift Shop had never even stocked the society's Churchill War Time Speeches Speeches CDs for I had only delivered them on Good Friday this Easter when she was away and they have never been put on display at Chartwell.

They were even more astonished when told that Mr Powell's famous Burford Bridge speech to the Society about Churchill had long ago been taken off display in the Gift shop and they refused to believe the statement made by Mrs ........... to me that the public had complained at it being on display.

I will digress here to inform you, that knowing of Mr Powell's work with Churchill, I was the person who invited him to address the Society and who in conjunction with Trust House Forte, oversaw all the arrangements for that splendid and wonderfully attended occasion including the recording of his speech.

To resume.

I had to inform our committee that no-one from the society had ever met or spoken with anyone from your NT Regional Buying Office since Chartwell stocked the CDs. We had only ever dealt with Mrs ............. and after her, then Mrs ........... Both were invariably helpful.

The committee therefore concluded that your decision to remove the society's leaflets, and CDs from display the Chartwell Gift Shop without any discussion with the society should be be challenged.

They argue that had the society's free leaflets and the CDs been displayed properly the latter would have sold just as well as they do everywhere else they are on sale. They also calculated that in returning them you lost the National Trust not only over £20 in freight costs sending them back to us, but a clear profit of £469 for the NT - to say nothing of lost future profits on fresh future stock.

Enclosed is our NT price lists to prove the point.

That the stock was left in the stock room, now explains to us why for the last two years many of our members (most of whom are likely to be National Trust members also) had often asked us here why nothing - not even the society leaflets - were on display at Chartwell when they visited.

The committee are convinced the leaflets and CDs were removed from display for reasons that had nothing to do with honest commerce: for this society being a non commercial educational society are able to produce and sell the society CDs far cheaper than any commercially made ones.

The correspondence and returned CDs prove that you Mr Lynch had never even listened to any of the CDs because all of them came back here with their cellophane wrappers intact. The committee consider this was most unfair of you and moreover unjust to both NT members and this society's members

The Chairman has written a letter of complaint to the Chairman and Councillors of the NT at Head Office. A paragraph in that letter demands that the Chairman and Councillors state the name of the person who ordered the removal of Mr Powell's speech about Churchill from the shelves of the Gift Shop for they emphatically do not believe the statement made by Mrs,,,,,,,,,,,, to me when she claimed it was done because the public disliked them being displayed.

Had you listened to that CD you could not have failed to realise that it is historic, being by far the most impressive and knowledgeable speech by any one who had worked for Churchill - as did both Mrs and Mrs Powell.

I have this morning persuaded our Chairman to allow me to hold back the committee's letter to the Head Office of the NT until after the society receives your reply to this letter.

I feel much saddened at what has happened. I believe that had we known each other this could never have happened.

The trouble stems from the unusual buying procedures for Chartwell. An example is that even when 'sale or return' CDs sold instantly - as did all the specially designed CHARTWELL MUSIC CDs - Mrs ........... appears to have had no authority to re-order. As our previous letters to her reveal, it is nigh impossible to sell music CDs unless the shoppers can listen on earphones to them and she says she has urged the NT buying office to provide this facility.

As we pointed out in our e mail - military museums and other outlets sell all our CDs without any difficulties.

I am enclosing herewith one each of the CDs in question. I want you and your colleagues to listen to them. I want you to especially listen to the CD of Churchill's War Time Speeches which the staff at Chartwell thought so attractive when I delivered them and who commented that they retailed at half the price of those you had on sale. (See below).

As the senior gift shop buyer whatever was in your mind when you ordered Mrs............ to send them back before she even had the chance of seeing how well they sold?

The NT makes 100% profit from the sale of these CDs - this society makes a fraction of that amount and devotes it entirely to the funding of the Society's thrice awarded Educational Web Pages entitled:-

SCHOOLS AND YOUNG PEOPLE - WHO WAS CHURCHILL?

These pages attract a vast annual audiences - last year estimated at over three million because of the BBC's ''Greatest Briton' competition.

I suffer from heart failure but would be happy to be driven to meet you, Mrs ........., and Mrs............. to privately sort this problem out.

With kind regards

 

Norman Harvey Rogers,

Secretary.

__________________________________

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

Winston Churchill.

________________________________

The National Trust.
Polsden Lacey.
Dorking.
Surrey.

7th June 2004

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY London
c/o 18 Grove Lane
Ipswich Suffolk
England
IP4 1NR

Dear Mr Harvey Rogers

Thank you for your letter of 24 May regarding the Trust's decision to stop stocking your CDs at Chartwell.

The decision is purely for commercial reasons due to poor sales of the CD.

Yours sincerely

Terry Lynch (Operations Manager).

He returned the package of all the CDs

 

________________________________________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY

London.

17th May 2004
(Posted on the 10th June 2004).

 

The Chairman and Councillors of the National Trust.
36 Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1H 9AS.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

This letter is written on behalf of the committee and members of the Society many of whom are also members of the National Trust.

I share their concern at the apparently arbitrary decision of the management of the Chartwell Gift Shop to downgrade the display and then early last year to withdraw altogether from display the CDs supplied by this Society ie:

I am writing to ask that we be informed of the identity of the person responsible for writing the enclosed letter.

It would appear to me that common courtesy would have dictated that there should be discussion with the supplier of merchandise to the NT before such action was taken.

 

Yours faithfully

Pamela Timms (Mrs)

Chairman.

 

Enclosures

The CDs

 

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY

London

c/o 18 Grove Lane

Ipswich Suffolk

England

IP4 1NR

_____________________________________

You can listen to excerpts below.

Please click on the Downloading Progress bar when it has made some progress and they will start playing for you.

 

Churchill's War Time Speeches. National Trust Gift Shop retail price £9.99. 100% profit for the NT. They have never been displayed and were returned within a week of their delivery. Excerpt Market research!	The late Rt Hon Enoch's Powell's remarkable speech to this society about Sir Winston. Never displayed in 4 years! Text is on:- http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/EnochPll.html National Trust Gift Shop retail price £9.99. 100% profit for the NT. Market research!
Please listen to two of the four movements from:- THE CHARTWELL SUITE. Spring Dawn. Summer's Day Autumn Mists. Winter's night plus a selection of pieces from The Churchill Music. National Trust Gift Shop retail price £9.99. Sold instantly but never re-ordered. 100% profit for the NT. Market research!	Please listen to movement No 19 entitled:- In Victory Magnanimity. from Lady Churchill's gift from the composer and his family of The Churchill Music. A Legend in Music of the Life and Times of Sir Winston A Double CD National Trust Gift Shop retail price £12.50. 100% profit for the NT. Rarely on display. Market research!

You can listen to excerpts above,
Please click on the Downloading Progreess bar when it has made some progress and they will start playing for you.

______________________________________

 

The National Trust has over 52 Trustees and Councillors - plus many County Regional Trustees.

Because of this huge number of people

the Internet is the only way this very serious matter can be brought to the attention of both

Trustees, the Councillors, the Regional Directors, the staff

and all the members of the National Trust.

_________

It is highly regrettable that for four years now it appears that the National Trust

has been complicit in the Churchill family cover-up

of the existence of both

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY.

Enoch Powell's remarkable Speech about Churchill;

The public owns

Chartwell,

just as the public owns

THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST

The Churchill family do not.
__________

We will publish the National Trust reply when it comes.

_________

Meanwhile please read

'Why

The Churchill Society London

was formed'.

The society is an educational society that has won major Educational Internet Awards
for it educational pages entitled:-

SCHOOLS AND YOUNG PEOPLE

WHO WAS CHURCHILL?

It is not a society devoted to the fetish worship of one man.

The first Churchill 'association' formed in the UK was in the early 1960's and is said to have been by dealers in Churchill memorabilia. It had no aims and floundered.

No-one in the UK has ever explained how or when the - 'International Churchill Societies' - (a misnomer) was formed, but it was led by the American dealer in Churchill memorabilia, stamps and books - a Mr Richard Langworth, and his company called Churchillbooks Inc of New Hampshire in the USA.. A number of people joined this, but few remained members for very long because it had no direction, aims or constitution.

Mr Langworth is knowledgeable about Churchill but is too young to have had any experience the last world war. He comes frequently to the UK on book and Churchill memorabilia buying trips. Mr Langworth never permitted a UK ICS membership list to be published, but at no time did membership attendance at the annual meetings exceed 35 persons.

How, when or why Churchill's daughter, Lady Soames, became involved as the 'Patron' of ICS is not known. Neither she - nor any other member of the Churchill family -were actively interested.

Canada was the first country to form societies to honour the memory of Churchill. It has at least three - and they are older than ICS. They are independent of each other - and ICS.

The former ICS in the UK collapsed in 1989.

There is little or no interest in Churchill and ICS in Australia and none in New Zealand.

Thus Mr Langworth's claim today that ICS is a world wide association of Churchill Societies has yet to be proved. Thus the name 'Churchill Societies' is a misnomer and the prefix 'International' untrue.

When these matters were discussed privately by UK ICS members prior to 1989 it led to the discovery of the great differences between UK and USA legal requirements for the running of societies.

ICS claims on its web site and current literature to have support in the United Kingdom today - but ICS UK collapsed in 1989 as a consequence of these discoveries.

The history of this collapse is as follows.

In 1986 the meeting held by ICS in the UK that year was held at Chartwell. (Churchill's home managed by The National Trust) About 35 persons were present, many of whom were dismayed to find that the room had been turned by dealers in Churchill memorabilia into something akin to a car boot sale. This had happened on previous occasions, but on a small scale and was assumed to be a way of fund raising.

The meeting bore no resemblance to a normal Annual General Meeting. Yet again that year, during the meeting, constitutional questions asked by members - such as when were elections to be held? Why was their no committee? How many members were there in the society? and how much money was in the society's bank? were all side stepped with the skilful manipulation of the meeting's time table. Finally the meeting was then addressed by Langworth. He spoke of how thriving the 'chapters' were in many other countries and of the great plans for the UK society for the forthcoming year.

After the meeting, a number of members stated that the previous holding of genuine non commercial exhibitions of members collections of Churchill memorabilia was perfectly acceptable to them; but expressed their dismay that Churchill's own beloved home had this time been used for substantial private and commercial dealing in Churchill memorabilia by a few members, and also by people who had never been at meetings before.

As members could not decide whether this dealing had been organised, they expressed their dismay to Mr Langworth and Mr Wheeler. (Mr Wheeler is not a dealer).

At the next United Kingdom ICS Annual General Meeting , members expressed concern that so many eminent people who sought information about the society failed to join and were never heard from again. It was thought that these people would not join because ICS was not in fact a society, because it had no constitution, no aims, and did nothing from one year to the next.

Members became uneasy about the aimlessness, the diminishing support, and the persistent year on year failure of Langworth's ambitious 'plans' to materialise. They told him that the reputation of the society was being seriously damaged by the dealers in Churchilliana and its Masonic secretiveness.

This brought into open discussion the absence of any constitution or governing committee, the refusal of Langworth or Wheeler to produce any membership list or reveal the annual accounts. Members stated bluntly that it was a ramshackle disorganised affair and should be properly organised if it was to be worthy of Churchill and develop.

Nothing happened.

Members were then very surprised to learn that ICS UK had been granted charity status. (This was prior to the public demand for the reform of the Charity Commission).

In 1989, the more thoughtful ordinary members demanded that a proper society be formed with the appropriate a legal constitution. To this end they asked a judge - who at the time was a new member - to formulate the necessary constitution.

This he did, and after preparing copies he invited the these members to his home to explain the British law for societies and the details of his proposed constitution.

His work appeared in vain for nothing happened. It was said by one person present at that meeting that the judge's advice was persistently challenged; and that thereafter a distinct Freemasonry In his 20s Churchill joined the Freemasons but within a very short period he resigned. He then did something showing courage and great strength of character - something that had never done before nor has been done since. He published his letter of resignation. He never rejoined. It is not generally known by the public that there are Masonic Lodges for ladies. It is not possible to confirm whether members of the Churchill family - either male of female - are freemasons. atmosphere prevailed.

As the names and addresses of members remained secret it was not possible to inform them about the new constitution.

When the suppression of these events eventually became known to members, the judge and the most thoughtful members promptly resigned - and in time the rest just drifted away.

The Churchill family knew of all these developments as they unfolded but they did nothing. Later, a friend of theirs was approved by them to be the UK  'Director'  of ICS. He had never been known to be a member.

His name was *Jonathan Aitken.

. . . . . the Society shall never deal in, nor own any item of Churchilliana, but displays of such items in CHURCHILL HOUSE London be much encouraged - but only at the expense and risk of the owners.

. . . . any person being - or having been in the past - a dealer in Churchilliana, cannot be an executive member of the society.

. . . . anyone appointed to an administrative post within the society must declare Masonic or other affiliations before they accept appointment . . . .

 

_______________________________

Shortly after these events a new society - one free of dealers in Churchill Memorabilia and having a proper constitution was formed having the following aims.

1. To reverse the appalling failure of schools to teach history and educate children about the causes of the two great wars of the 20th century.

2. To seek help to build CHURCHILL HOUSE London.

3. To obtain a performance of Rutherlyn's great tribute to Churchill - his gift to Lady Churchill and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of THE CHURCHILL MUSIC.

The details of these aims are set out via the LINKS lower down this page.

Upon receipt of the society's leaflet, Lady Soames , telephoned the hon secretary and demanded to know why this had been done without any reference to the family.

The secretary politely reminded her that she had not appeared to take the slightest interest - or ever attended a single meeting of the former society (of whom she was patron) and said that we all thought it was wiser for the Churchill family to leave the commemoration of her father's great achievements to others.

She replied the family should have been consulted and "that it would divert funds". The telephone conversation ended with an agreement to meet after her return from holiday. The society wrote, but never heard from her again.

Her nephew - Randolph Churchill's son Winston - an MP wrote at a later date an offensive letter to the founder of the society accusing him of being 'impertinent'-'bogus' and a 'pirate'.(sic)

Thus were sown the seeds of many sad events and what what has now happened at Chartwell.

____________________

'It is difficult to overtake slander . . . but the truth is very powerful too'

Winston Churchill.

________________

THE NATIONAL TRUST
36 Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1H 9AS.

Mrs Pamela Timms
Chairman,
The Churchill Society,
London.
C/o 18 Grove Lane
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP4 1NR.

28th June 2004.

Dear Mrs Timms (handwritten)

Thank you for your recent letter which was received upon the 15th June.

I am sorry to hear you have concerns about arrangements with the Chartwell Gift Shop, and thank you for enclosing details of previous correspondence with the National Trust and copies of the society's CDs.

The issues you have raised are matters for the appropriate colleagues in the South East Regional Office to look into - I have passed them a copy of your letter and they will be in touch shortly.

Thank you for taking the trouble to bring your concerns to my attention.

(handwritten)

Yours sincerely

William Proby

_______

Sir William Proby Bt.

Chairman.

____________________________________________________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY

London

 

30/8/04

Sir William Proby Bt.
Chairman.
THE NATIONAL TRUST
36, Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON
SW1H 9AS

Dear Sir William

Mrs Timms is in hospital, but with the committee, has asked me to write and inform you that they thank you for your kind letter of the 28th June, but to date that she has not heard from the Staff at the South East Regional Office.

We realise this is a busy holiday period for them but would be grateful if they would reply.

Yours sincerely

Judith O'Hanlon (Mrs)

Secretary.

_________________________________________________

THE NATIONAL TRUST

for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

 

SOUTH EAST REGION € POLESDEN LACEY DORKING € SURREY RH5 6BD

 

Dated 17 August 2004. (Arrived in the Society's Office 20th October 2004)

Mrs Pamela Timms Chairman,
The Churchill Society,
London
C/o 18 Grove Lane
IPSWlCH
Suffolk
IP4 1NR

We have highlighted in red the text which is untruthful.

Dear Mrs Timms

Thank you for your letter of 28 June which has been passed to me for response by the office of Sir William Proby.

I am afraid that there is very little which I can add to the information which was given to you in the letter of 5 May 2004. The Enterprises section of the National Trust represents the business side of the Trust and, as such, has the aim of maximising profit from all of its retail and catering outlets. We have recently undertaken an overview of all of our merchandise and this had led to a reduction in the number of product lines which we stock. All our decisions were based on sound research of the current and previous performance of the items sold in our shops and, reluctantly, we have had to rationalise and reduce the available range accordingly.

*May I point out that any correspondence between the National Trust and the Churchill Society is confidential and I would be obliged if you would immediately remove correspondence on this matter from your web site. You should also be aware that your disclaimer does not permit you to publish confidential correspondence or mention by name employees of the National Trust without obtaining the necessary consents. The National Trust regards this as a serious matter and reserves its position.

I do hope that this situation has now been brought to a satisfactory conclusion for both parties and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your previous support of the National Trust.

Yours sincerely
Sarah Roots

Services Department

REGIONAL Chairman. MRS MARY VILLIERS OBE., DL

DIRECTOR FOR SOUTHEAST : SUE SAVILLE .

______________________

 
TO REMIND READERS OF THE ORIGINAL COMPLAINT.
 

(1) ......... that no society CDs or leaflets of any sort were on display in the Gift Shop. Who ordered that they be taken off the shop shelves?

(2) .......... dismayed that you were selling versions of Churchill's Speeches CDs at the astounding price of £16.95 each. (sixteen pounds ninety five pence) getting the NT Gift shops a very bad name at this price for the public can purchase any type of CD of Churchill's speeches - both before and during the war - both single and double CDs - at never more that £9.99 to £12 each. They can even download them free on the Internet and be bought in many places including CDs air mailed to the USA for just £9.99.

(3) ..... who ordered Enoch Powell's wonderful tribute to Churchill to be taken off the shelves?

(4) ...... why were the staff ordered to return the society's new Churchill's War Time Speeches (retailing at 9.99 giving the NT a 100% profit) within three days of their delivery?

(5) ...... why were the shop staff not allowed to re-order more copies of THE CHARTWELL SUITE CDs 'Spring Dawn' 'Summers Day' 'Autumn Mists' and 'Winter's Night' which all sold immediately?

(6) ...... your manager told me that the reason there were none of the Society's CDs on display was because you had sold out. But this statement does not conform with your written stock statement of what you sold last year - see below. Your sales last year were frankly lamentable and clearly show that they had not been displayed - for reasons only the NT at Chartwell know. We had frequent enquiries from our members as to why this was and also why none of the society's leaflets were on display.

(7) ...... why is it that the Imperial War Museum can instantly sell the stock they purchase at Chartwell with the thousands of visitors you receive cannot sell more than 10 in a whole year?

I confirm - all the profits from the sale of all the Society's CDs go towards the educational work of the society and all at Chartwell have a duty to support the work of the Society.

Not one of the above questions has been answered in the reply we eventually received below.

____________________________

This dispute with the National Trust Gift Shop initially appears to be so trivial that it does not warrant any attention. This is not so, for it brings yet again into question the senior management policies of The National Trust at Chartwell.(see below)
* This reply does not address a single issue about which the Society complained.
The correspondence is not confidential - it was paged on the Internet because of the failure of the South Regional Headquarters. to reply for six months to our Chairman's letter to Sir William Proby (who twice passed it on to them for attention): and also because of their refusal to meet with us to discuss the matter privately.

Note how the South Regional Headquarters still sidestep all the issues

It appears that the above letter must have been dictated to, not written by, name deleted who is simply in gift shop management

We suspect she was instructed by her manager via Mrs Mary Villiers (the Regional Chairman) and Miss Susannah Saveille (the Regional Director) to sign and send it.

We suspect that in doing this Mrs Mary Villiers (the South Eastern Regional Chairman) and Miss Susannah Saveille (the South Eastern Regional Director) did so under under the direct instructions of Miss Fiona Reynolds the Director General of the Trust and the Trust's Board in London.

We suspect that it was the Board who collectively dictated the letter - a letter that not one member was willing to be held responsible for having written.

We suspect that the reason for this was that the entire board of the National Trust have been suborned by the Churchill family not to allow any mention of the existence of THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY to be made at Chartwell.

This web page will remain paged, for there is no other way that the Chairman and Director General and the 50 plus National Trust Councillors - all the NT members and all the staff in the South Eastern Region Office - our members - and the public who own Chartwell - can be appraised of these matters.

That the Directors of the National Trust placed their staff in such invidious positions so that in effect they themselves would not appear not responsible, is reprehensible.

__________________________________________

The Churchill Society
London.
November 1st 2004.

A STATEMENT BY THE SOCIETY.

The Society submitted a set of CDs to Chartwell about 4 years ago with the suggestion they sell them in the Gift Shop. The profit was 100% for Chartwell, and the society's 10% profit on them used to help fund the Society's thrice awarded

Educational Web Pages entitled:-

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS

'WHO WAS CHURCHILL'?
(it has over 3.5 million visitors a year and still growing)

Mrs Carole Kenright and her colleagues at Chartwell all liked the CDs and agreed to stock them.

Time passed but no official order arrived for them so the society delivered some on a sale or return basis to see how they sold. With the exception of THE CHARTWELL SUITE sales were slow, for the simple reason that people do not buy a CD unless they can first hear some it.

THE CHARTWELL SUITE was the exception for they all sold instantly and this we can only assume to be because of its very reasonable price and attractive jacket - making as it did - an excellent memento for visitors.

Querying with the shop manageress why she had not ordered more, she informed us that this could only be done via the buying staff at Head Office. We asked her to inform them she was out of stock but heard nothing more. We had observed that other NT Gift Shops had videos TVs which displayed items in stock and so suggested to the Chartwell Staff they ask Head Office to obtain a multi earphone CD player so that the public could listen to the CDs. The manageress complained that Head Office always refused to consider this

The statement .............'our decisions to cease stocking Churchill society's CDs was based on sound research of the current and previous performance of the items sold in our shops is therefore untrue.

The statement made by by the gift shop staff that the recording of Enoch Powell's famous Burford Bridge speech to the Churchill Society about Churchill had offended the visitors to Chartwell and that is why they they no longer displayed it was unanimously disbelieved by the Society's Committee when they heard it.

The committee did not believe that it was the shop assistants at Chartwell who hid away in the stock room the society's CDs speech about Churchill; a speech of such importance - a speech by a Privy Councillor who had worked for Churchill: who was an MP for forty years - who was a former Minister of the Crown

(A necessary digression)

Mr Powell was Professor of Greek, Philosophy and Logic at the age of 26 - the youngest Brigadier (ever) in the British Army, a man who could speak and write fluently in seven different languages, a Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge: a man who had lived amongst, loved and had a deep knowledge of the peoples and religions of the sub continent amongst whom he had many friends. He was not only a man of deep Christian faith and a lifelong active member of the Church of England but a Biblical scholar and author of rare distinction.

Like Churchill, Powell devoted much thought and time to educating the public.

He said:-

"my self imposed business in my political life has been telling the English about themselves - who they are and what they are, how they govern themselves, and why they govern themselves in that way".

Enoch Powell was an economist who's legacy of 'free market enterprise economic policies' was adopted by Mrs Thatcher so successfully that even the New Labour government has continued with it. Little thanks or credit did he receive during his lifetime from her or the nation.

(Nicholas Ridley MP formed the twelve member Economic Dining Club in 1972 and to which Powell belonged - eventually dominating it by his sheer intellectual ability. Mrs Thatcher joined the club in 1977 after she became leader of the conservative party, but before she became prime minister).

Enoch Powell was a statesman who - like the prewar despised Churchill - unerringly foresaw, trembled and frequently wept in rage at the sleepwalking decline of Britain and the who predicted accurately the rioting fire storm tragedies that have already taken place in our cities - and whose predictions of further conflicts between the races in the UK are yet to come - all - as the direct consequence of the failure of parliament to listen to the people's anxieties about immigration and his lone political voice demanding parliament introduce into law a British Nationality Act.

Mention Enoch's name to anyone on the streets today and they lament his passing and the failure of the Conservative government to to heed his warnings.

That a CD of Enoch Powell's speech about Churchill has been deliberately hidden away by the National Trust beggars belief.

What has happened in Chartwell's Gift Shop brings into focus - yet again - the unanswered Churchill Society's concerns it has in the past queried with The National Trust.

They are as follows:-

(1). Why are important items missing from the original collection at Chartwell?

Please read - http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Greed.html
(active LINKS to these letters are placed at the bottom of this page to allow the narrative to flow)

(2). What happens if the family withdraw and then sell some of the contents of Chartwell - as they to did with the papers kept at Churchill College until they were paid thirteen millions pounds lottery money (for papers that experts in the matter state did not belong to them)?

Please read - http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/ChrtwlPs.html
(active LINKS to these letters are placed at the bottom of this page to allow the narrative to flow)

(3).The family own the contents of Chartwell. We have asked who pays for the 24 hour a day security and insurance of the contents of Chartwell and who would receive the insurance money for their loss in the case of theft or fire?

Please read - http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/ChartPps.html
(active LINKS to these letters are placed at the bottom of this page to allow the narrative to flow)

Not one of the above questions has been answered by The National Trust and we are therefore now entitled to ask:-

(4). How much control or improper influence does the family have over the National Trust managers of Chartwell?

We suspect that deliberate failure to re-order CDs - the removal from display of anything to do with the Churchill Society at Chartwell was not done for commercial reasons, but that it was brought about by the family's inexplicable antagonism to the Churchill Society.

 

____________

The Times Newspaper London

19th February 1997

Winston Churchill (minor) was left $10 million (6.2 million pounds) in his mother's (Mrs Harriman) will, it was disclosed yesterday.

_________________________________________

The Independent
London

reported today that after they received £12,500,000 from the very first payout of the British Lottery - after blackmailing the government and nation that they would sell the papers by auction . . . "it later emerged that the Churchill family had already made £6 million recently from publishing deals involving the papers."

24th May 1998).

______________________________________________

The Times Newspaper. London. 

The Churchill family received a 6 figure up front sum for the film rights in a new film about Churchill's papers today.

________________________________________________

The Times Newspaper. London. 

The Churchill family sold at auction today items belonging to Sir Winston.

The proceeds of the entire sale exceeded £200,000.

July 16th 1998).

_______________________________________________

The Times Newspaper. London.

The government announce today that more than 500 British Nazi Holocaust Victims (all over 80 years of age) are to receive £400 (Four Hundred Pounds) compensation from the British Government to help "free them from the misery of poverty".

July 20th 1998).

_________________________________________________

The Daily Telegraph. London.

Why on earth did they want to sell Winston's top hat, or his carpet slippers for that matter?

I thought the Sotheby's sale a sorry affair, and no credit to Winston's descendants.

Widows sell their husbands' gallantry awards because they need the money but this does not apply to the Churchill family.

His gold Victory watch - given to him to commemorate Germany's defeat in 1945 is something that would be a treasured heirloom to most families.

. . . . . A sad business

W.F.Deedes. (Lord Deedes).

________________________________________________

TIMES NEWSPAPER.

September 23, 2004

From Professor Emeritus Thomas Stapleton

Sir,

' Churchill's tears'

Richard Morrison (T2, September 20) writes that Churchill is said to have been a bit of a sobber, though never in public.

Professor Robert Debr, the father of French paediatrics, told me that when in 1944 Churchill received the freedom of the City of Paris in

1944, in the Hotel de Ville, on opening the casket, found it contained not a scroll but the Hakenkreuz (Nazi flag) that had flown over the town

hall. during the Occupation, the tears poured down his cheeks.

 

Yours faithfully,

THOMAS STAPLETON,

The Foundry Cottage,

Lane End, High Wycombe,

Buckinghamshire HP14 3JS.

 

___________________________________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY
London.

The Editor
The Times Newspaper
London

Sir

(From France)

'Churchill's tears'

Letter 23rd Sept 2004

Professors Stapleton's account of Churchill's reception of the Nazi flag presented to him in France in 1944 was moving. It represented the French nation's tribute to Churchill and all his comrades in arms who lost their lives and the grief and pain of their widows and orphans, plus the many who suffered appalling injuries.

The flag belongs to them and now to the nation.

Where is it now?

Yours faithfully

The Secretary.

Norman Harvey Rogers.

_____________________________________________________________________

The Times Newspaper
London
September 7th 1998

Mr Mark Thomas has accepted a position advising Chancellor Gordon Brown about reforming the tax system to ensure that rich people cannot cheat. Mr Thomas was invited after his television programme revealed that Nicholas Soames (Churchill's grandson and Conservative MP and former Minister) avoided paying inheritance tax on family heirlooms. He had been listing them as available to public inspection when they were not.

 

____________________________________________________________________

TIMES NEWSPAPER.

September 23, 2004

How 25-year wrangle led to Churchill papers sale

By Richard Ford

PERSONAL papers belonging to Winston Churchill were the subject of a 25-year legal fight as his grandson, who had "little money of his own", tried to sell them to the Government, files released by the National Archive at Kew reveal.

Discreet negotiations to sell the 2,000-box archive, which included early drafts of the wartime leader's "finest hour" and "Battle of Britain" speeches, began within six years of his death in 1965. The Government was offered the pre-1945 papers &emdash; half of them official papers belonging to the State &emdash; for £100,000 to £120,000 in 1971. Finally they were bought with £12.5 million of National Lottery money in 1995.

The collection, the Chartwell Papers, contained almost everything that Churchill wrote before 1945, including extensive correspondence with Lloyd George, Edward VIII and George VI. It also included intelligence on all aspects of the Second World War, drafts of letters to Stalin, Roosevelt and de Gaulle and Cabinet papers.

It was in a private family trust, which Churchill intended to benefit male descendants. The main beneficiary by 1991 was his grandson, Winston Churchill, then Conservative MP for Davyhulme. The papers were his most valuable possession.

The papers had been loaned to Churchill College in Cambridge, but the trustees wished to sell them. Successive governments wanted the papers to remain together, but they were a mixture of official and personal documents. Sir Winston had taken many official documents with him on permanent loan ? when he left office and had refused to return them. Today's files disclose that Sotheby's had estimated in 1971 that they would fetch £2 million. The letter then suggests that the Government offer between £100,000 to £120,000 to buy them.

The purchase by the lottery provoked fury. John Charmley, the historian, said: "The second jackpot winner is Winston Churchill Jr. The Government should have called the bluff of the Churchill's when they threatened to break up the collection and sell it abroad. These papers belong to the State and should never have been removed in the first place."

Let faith, not appetite, guide our steps.

Winston Churchill

Political Broadcast
January 21, 1950.

__________________________________

The Society now considers that a

PARLIAMENTARY SELECT COMMITTEE

or

JUDICIAL COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY

should be appointed to:-

(1). Decide who owned The Chartwell Papers. To establish in law whether they had a dual ownership ie: that these gifts belonged to Churchill and the nation.

(2). The legality of the sale of The Chartwell Papers and whether the state should reclaim from the family the 13 million pounds (plus interest and inflation) paid for Chartwell Papers.

(3). Did John Major's government break the law in forcing the 'independent' Lottery Commission to purchase them?

(4). The legality of the family still blocking authors quoting from the papers and the family still charging copyright fees on them.

(5). Who owns both the existing and the missing items from the original collection of gifts given by Foreign Governments, Kings and Queens and Potentates and establish the whereabouts of the missing items.?

(6).To examine every aspect of the National Trust's management of the Chartwell estate.

 

During the months just prior to the 'sale' of the Chartwell Papers not a single member of the Churchill family protested that what the others in the family were doing was immoral and against their parents wishes.

_____________________________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY

London.

November 1st 2004.

Sir William Proby Bt.
Chairman.
THE NATIONAL TRUST
36, Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON
SW1H 9AS

Dear Sir William

At last, we have received a reply to our Chairman's letter to you dated 17th May 2004
(held back but then posted on the 10th June 2004). It arrived on the 19th October but was dated 17th August 2004 with a covering letter from name deleted

It is immensely sad that in spite of all our efforts to meet those involved in this matter it took the publication of the correspondence on the society's website to get the staff to respond.

It is also immensely sad that these events have been allowed by the Trust to develop. We are much aware that they bring distress to all involved.

Our complaint appears trivial, but it is far from trivial; for it yet again raises serious questions re the policies being followed by the National Trust at Chartwell.

As the National Trust has over 50 councillors and the The South Eastern Region many Directors and Managers; and as both your members and ours and the public (who own Chartwell) all need to be appraised of what is happening; and as none of the correspondence is confidential, the Society will continue to page the correspondence on:-

http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/ CDs.Chartwell.NT.HO.html

(this page)

on the above website, for there is simply no way of ensuring that everyone can be kept informed either by us or The National Trust.

We thank you most sincerely for your evident concern and for having twice referred the matter to those responsible.

Yours sincerely

On behalf of the society.

 

Norman Harvey Rogers.

________________________________________________

THE NATIONAL TRUST
36 Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1H 9AS.

17th November 2004.

N H Rogers, Esq.
The Churchill Society, London
Ivy House
18 Grove Lane
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP4 1NR.

Dearr Mr Rogers (handwritten).

I have been following the recent correspondence on this matter, and note your further comments. I have passed a copy of your letter to the appropriate colleagues in the Trust, so that they are aware of your concerns and your comments about the Churchill Society web site.

Thank you for writing.

Yours sincerely (handwritten)

Signature

Sir William Proby Bt.
Chairman.

______________________________________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY

London.

10/1/05

 

Sir William Proby Bt.
Chairman.
THE NATIONAL TRUST
36, Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON
SW1H 9AS.

Dear Sir William

Last August the following letter was written to you.

Dear Sir William

Mrs Timms is in hospital but with the committee she has asked me to write and inform you that they thank you for your kind letter of the 28th June but to date that she has not heard from the Staff at the South Eastern Regional Office.

We realise this is a busy holiday period for them but would be grateful if they would reply.

Yours sincerely

Judith O'Hanlon (Mrs)

Secretary.
________________________

Since that date we have kept you informed of all corespondence and you have always so kindly acknowledged our letters and assured us that they are being considered by the South Eastern Regional NT Directors.

The last letter we received was from Sarah Roots 'Customer Service Manager' threatening to refer the society to the Data Protection Commission for breach of the Data Protection Act, if we did not take down the page withing 7 days.

As a consequence of her letter we sent the entire correspondence to The Data Protection Agency seeking their opinion.

They informed us there was no breach of the regulations, that we were wise in refraining to name the staff invovled but we may do so in future if it became necessary.

As you know this correspondence has been going on now for nearly a year and not a single question we have raised has been addressed. Our initial request for a meeting to discuss the matter has been ignored

We now appeal to you as Chairman of the National Trust to intervene personally for there must be something seriously wrong with the management of Chartwell if the Imperiual War Museum can regularly stock and easily sell the society's THE CHURCHILL MUSIC and now also stock these CDs for the forthcoming opening on February 11 of The Cabinet War Rooms.

There is no reason for Chartwell not to do the same. May I remind you, all the profits from the sale of the CD are spent on the (still privately and heavily subsidised) Society's educational work, All the staff of the Society are volunteers.

Many British members of this society are also members of the NT.

Yours sincerely

J O'Hanlon (Mrs)

Secretary to the Committee.

 

PS

The Society's Web Pages attracted 4.25 million visitors last year - a large number of these were seeking information about Chartwell opening times. We should value confirmation of Chartwell opening times for 2005 so that we can update that page.

________________________________________________

 

THE NATIONAL TRUST
36 Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1H 9AS.

January 26th 2005

 

Dear Mrs O'Hanlon

Thank you for your letter of the 10th January to the Chairman Sir William Proby Bt.

I am sorry for the slight delay in in replying. The Chairman has seen your letter, and asked that I write on his behalf to acknowledge receipt. He is aware of the ongoing correspondence between The Churchill Society and colleagues in the South Eastern Regional Office, who are the appropriate people in the Trust on this matter and they are keeping the Chairman regularly informed.

Thank you for taking the trouble to write

Yours sincerely

Scott Carpenter

Correspondence Co-oridnator

Business Administratiion Umit.

_________________________________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY

London.

20/3/05

Sir William Proby Bt.
Chairman.
THE NATIONAL TRUST
36, Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON
SW1H 9AS

Dear Sir William

I refer to Scott Carpenter's letter dated 26th January 2005 written by him at your request.

It is apparent to the Society that the National Trust at Chartwell are unwilling to answer any of the matters we have raised and that you are also unwilling to instruct them to do so.

We now leave this matter for the public to judge.

Yours sincerely

Norman Harvey Rogers
Secretary

______________________________

 

Please also read:-

THE HISTORY OF THE THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY.
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/ics.htm

THE AIMS of THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY.
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/chtruste.htm

The Society's highly awarded educational web pages:-
SCHOOLS AND YOUNG PEOPLE - WHO WAS CHURCHILL?'
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/SchINDEX.html
estimated to have attracted over 3 million visitors last year.

The extraordinary 39 year story of THE CHURCHILL MUSIC.
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/winnie.html

Reviews of The Churchill Music'
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Review.html

'The Battle for REAL Music'. By the composer of THE CHURCHILL MUSIC
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/ChLect96.html

To the BBC
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/lttrs.bbc.html

 

Further correspondence.

With	Lady Churchill.
With:-	The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.	Mr W S Churchill's improper appointment.
With:-	The National Trust.	Re missing items at Chartwell.
With:-	Churchill Archive Centre.	The scandal of the Chartwell Papers.
Re:-	The Royal Courts of Justice Court.	Churchill family v College College Cambridge..
With:-	Freemason's United Grand Lodge of England.	Re CHURCHILL HOUSE London.
With:-	Channel 2 BBC London.	The Greatest Briton
With:-	Libby Purvis. Radio 4 'Midweek'.	The Greatest Briton
With:-	Library of Congress	The Churchill Exhibition
From:-.	Professor Charmley.	An Award for Stupidity
To:-	Lord Tebbit.	...'spitting in the face' of  'The Few'
To:-	The Chairman, Councillors, and Members of The National Trust.	Dishonesty at the Chartwell Gift Shop

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