The Churchill Society
London.

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

__________

THE CHURCHILL SOCIETY
London.

30/4/04

The Rt Hon The Lord Tebbit. CH
The House of Lords
London
SW1 1AA

 

Dear Lord Tebbit

Having read in The Times Newspaper (15th May 2004) your criticism * of the National Lotteries refusal to contribute to the memorial to the Battle of Britain pilots, (please visit our web page Link) I am writing to express my complete agreement and share with you my anger.

At the beginning of the war I was 17 years of age and all the lads I knew became fighter pilots. Needless to say very few of them survived.

My anger is not only on a personal basis. The Churchill Society of London (of which I am Chairman) suffers similar refusals for assistance in establishing a lasting monument to Sir Winston Churchill.** Indeed our application to have a stand in the £900 million pound Dome in his honour was not even replied to. The Dome is still costing £250,000 a month and still empty!

It appears that those who run the Lottery have little or no appreciation of their debt to Sir Winston and the 'Fighter Boys", without whose actions their freedom to make such decisions would not exist.

Yours sincerely

Pamela Timms
Chairman.

 

Lord Tebbit's reply

House of Lords

LONDON SW1A OPW

May 28th 2004.

Dear Mrs Timms

Thank you for your letter. Ms Forgan is a former Women's Editor of The Guardian.

Need one say more

Yours sincerely

(Handwritten) Norman Tebbit.

Editor's note. Liz Forgan, is Chairperson of The Heritage Lottery Fund.

______________________________

** For further information please visit the following web pages:-

The case for a distinguished London Monument

and

CHURCHILL HOUSE LONDON.>

___________________

*THE TIMES NEWSPAPER
May 15, 2004 Copyright.

Tebbit accuses lottery fund of
'spitting in the face'
of 'The Few'
over decision not to back Battle of Britain Memorial

By Lewis Smith

THE chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund was accused yesterday of "spitting in the faces" of the Few who won the Battle of Britain.

Lord Tebbit launched his scathing attack on Liz Forgan and the fund after being told that there was no chance of the organisation contributing to the £1.5 million cost of a Battle of Britain memorial.

He is furious that the fund has pledged £1 million to a Women at War memorial but will not honour the men and women who saved the nation during the Battle of Britain.

The Times can today show the first two sections of the monument at the centre of the row, which have been completed in clay by the sculptor Paul Day ready to be cast in bronze. Fundraisers are also celebrating reaching the first £1 million of the £1.5 million needed for the project.

Lord Tebbit, a former RAF pilot who is leading the fund-raising campaign, said he was shocked at being given the "brush-off" by Ms Forgan and the fund's refusal to help. "I'm amazed that she's not prepared to talk to me and even listen to the case," he said. "I regard it as spitting in the face not merely for the pilots but all the others who took part in the battle."

However, he remained confident that enough money would be raised to pay for the monument, which organisers hope the Queen will unveil next year on the Embankment in Central London.

Ms Forgan said she had explained to Lord Tebbit that the lottery did not fund new memorials but that Women at War was an "exceptional national monument". She said the Battle of Britain memorial was "an admirable project".

Contributions to the memorial by private individuals and organisations have ranged from £2 to £100,000.

Mr Day is about to start work on the final part, a three-dimensional depiction of Battle of Britain pilots being scrambled to intercept enemy aircraft.

The monument, placed on a granite plinth, will be the only dedicated memorial in London commemorating the men and women who fought the Battle of Britain. The names of the 2,925 pilots who fought from July 10 to October 31, 1940, will be carved on the plinth.

Mr Day said that the panels, using four tons of clay each, took a year to sculpt at his studio in a village near Dijon, France. When cast in bronze they will weigh up to ten tons each. He said: "I've tried to put across in a simple snapshot something of what the people then were going through &emdash; the determination, the courage, the fear, the pounding hearts and the bursting blood vessels."

He said it was "exhilarating" to have worked on the memorial. He had relied on veterans' reminiscences, war diaries and history books for inspiration.

______________________

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 USA.	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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