VSC to mark 60th Anniversary of Winston Churchill’s passing

On Friday, 24th January 2025, the Victory Services Club (VSC) will commemorate the 60th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s death. In honour of his enduring legacy and historical connection to the VSC, by marking the occasion, the Club recognises his important contribution and support of the Club.

As a past patron, Churchill’s association with the Victory Services Club will be celebrated through a special menu inspired by Churchill’s Cookbook. The menu (see below) will be available at the Club’s restaurant on Friday, offering members a unique opportunity to try a couple of dishes that evoke the spirit of Churchill’s era. Book a table at the VSC and join us in commemorating this anniversary milestone.

We have exciting news – the VSC will be holding a very special book launch event later in the year. This book, which is in the final stages of publication (details to follow about the event and how to purchase a copy of the book), offers insights into the VSC’s own history, including some references to Churchill’s ties to the Club.

The highlights below include excerpts from historical records detailing interactions between Churchill and the VSC, as well as reflections on the stone memorial and inscription proudly displayed at the Club’s entrance.

On this anniversary of his death, we thought members might like to have a foretaste of a few excerpts that specifically mention Churchill’s communications about the VSC. Of particular interest are the references to the inscription and stone memorial which proudly stands at the VSC entrance.

(Churchill References from the VSC 1907-1957 Book)

1945

Naturally enough, on occasion the views of Committee members differed on the merits of particular ideas for fundraising. Malcolm (co-founder) wrote to Ross (leading fundraising) on 8th January 1945 expressing concern: ‘I understand that the figure of the Prime Minister is to be exhibited at the exhibition in Regent Street, and that a collection box will be placed before him, and every time that anyone puts anything in the box, his hand will go up and he will give the “V” sign, with the words “Thank You” on the collecting box. …I really think it is a very dangerous stunt, which puts him in a very undignified position… I feel sure that if anybody connected with the Prime Minister saw this gadget in action, he would report it unfavourably to him. We must not do anything to antagonise him. It would be too great a risk. 

1947

Churchill invited to be a patron in May 1947.

1948

A ceremonial opening of the new premises was planned for a date between 17th November and 8th December 1948 and would depend on the availability of the individual asked to perform it (the identity of whom was kept a closely guarded secret). While the subject of a formal opening of the new Club in Seymour Street was mentioned in subsequent Committee minutes, it never seems to have actually happened in that form. Visits were made during 1949, including by General Sir John Harding to present the Smoking Lounge on behalf of the Desert Rats, and even HRH Princess Elizabeth and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in April, but none seems to have been designated as the official ceremonial opening. The most likely explanation of this is that Chetwode especially wanted Churchill to be the one to perform the official opening but, by the time attempts to confirm arrangements had failed, the moment had passed. Chetwode had separately been pursuing Churchill during this period for words for an inscription, and then visit the Club to lay the inscription stone.

1949

The list of visitors during the year reads like a Who’s Who of the time, but the person Chetwode had most wanted to include on this list – Mr Churchill – would prove elusive. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester visited on 4th February and, later that month, on 21st, HM Queen Mary visited and presented a steel engraving of The Battle of Trafalgar by William Lionel Wyllie which hung for many years thereafter in the Club’s Trafalgar function room.

Early in the year Chetwode had asked Churchill for an inscription that could be placed on a plaque in the entrance to the Club, but a response was taking longer to arrive than hoped and a helping hand was sought via General Lord ‘Pug’ Ismay. Ismay had been Churchill’s highly regarded senior Military Assistant during the Second World War and went on to become NATO’s first Secretary General from 1952 to 1957. He remained a close friend, both of Churchill, and Chetwode and Davidson. Ismay appears to have played a key part in encouraging Churchill to draft the ‘inscription of welcome’ for the Club, which was received by Chetwode during the second half of February. It read: ‘This Victory Club for ex-servicemen and women, given by the Nation as a memorial to fallen comrades and as a tribute to those who returned, stands guardian of the common treasures and memories of friendship and brave deeds.’

Chetwode and the Council were delighted with it and Davidson wrote to Ismay on 23rd February asking that, when he saw Churchill next, he mentions to him how well received it had been. Ismay replied the next day: ‘I am so delighted that WSC has drafted the inscription for you. He is a master at finding ‘le mot juste’. I will be seeing him tonight and will tell him how delighted you all are that he has been a good boy: but I am afraid that his mind will be so full of Hammersmith that he will be unable to give his attention to anything else!’ The reference to Hammersmith concerned the by-election there that day (24th February) that, as Leader of the Conservatives, Churchill had been campaigning to win from Labour. As it happened, Labour retained the seat, but by a substantially reduced majority, a portent perhaps of the swing that would see the Conservatives regain power at the next General Election (1951) returning Churchill to the helm for one final shift.

With the new Club now open, the Council was keen to ensure the message written by Churchill was displayed prominently. It was engraved in stone and placed in the entrance hall – Davidson saw it as ‘of immense importance since it should be the Club’s “Olympic Torch”, so to speak’.

The Council tried very hard to persuade Churchill to visit the Club and lay the stone. MacDonald, the Club’s architect, had suggested that: ‘…since Mr Churchill is such an expert with a trowel’ he might even like to perform the actual laying ceremony himself – a reference to Churchill’s love of bricklaying. Churchill, however, declined; he wrote to Chetwode on 24th July saying: ‘I regret that, owing to increasing pressure of political affairs, I do not feel I should add to my commitments, even in this agreeable way. In this I hope you will excuse me. Yours very sincerely, Winston S Churchill’. Chetwode did not want to give up on this at the first refusal and hoped Churchill might reconsider if he could be persuaded, again by his friend ‘Pug’ Ismay. The hope was that he could perhaps visit for lunch on the first anniversary, on 15th September 1949, of the opening of the Club.

Davidson wrote to General Ismay on 22nd August seeking his help: ‘I hate worrying a busy man but we have come to an impasse in which I feel probably only you can help us.’ Ismay, who at that time was Chairman of the Council of the Festival of Britain (since 10th March 1948, having been invited by Attlee to take the post), replied on 25th August: ‘I am afraid there is nothing for it but to abandon the project. Once Mr C makes up his mind on that sort of question, nothing on earth will budge him. This I know from hard experience. He has, after all, done the Victory Club pretty well in drafting that wonderful message; and, quite frankly, I feel it would be a great mistake to press him any further. Having just spent a week with him in Italy, I can testify to the almost unbearable load of public work that he is expected to carry, even when on holiday.

So, while there will have been disappointment at that time that Churchill was not able to formally present, or lay, the stone in person, the Club has been able to display it proudly in the years ever since.

In 2015, the stone was refurbished by master stonemasons and, once again, looks magnificent in its prominent position for all members, staff and visitors to see.

(Churchill References from upcoming VSC 1907-1957 Book – look out for details of a very special event regarding the launch of this book in July 2025!)