On a beautiful sunny and warm May day, a good number of our members attended the Spalding Services & Social Club to meet Mr and Mrs Winston Churchill. No, we didn’t time travel; the husband and wife team of Derek and Linda Herbert are uncannily realistic Winston and Clementine impersonators with a deep knowledge of Winston’s life and history.

‘Mr Churchill’ presented a biography of our WWII Prime Minister with many interesting facts and anecdotes. Did you know that as an army officer, Churchill was involved in the last recorded cavalry charge? Or that he was an accomplished polo player… and bricklayer? Or that during WWII, there were several Churchill lookalikes in service to confound assassination attempts? These and many more facts were unveiled.

As the meeting coincided with the 80 th anniversary of the VE celebrations, the presentation concentrated on Churchill’s war years. He was well aware of the sacrifices made by the whole UK population throughout the six long years of conflict; his speech on VE Day, excellently recreated by Derek, included the observation that “This is your victory… this is your hour”. Such was the gratitude of the nation that on Winston’s 90 th birthday he received more than 70,000 birthday cards. Upon his death in 1965 he was afforded the honour of a state funeral.

The Club was decorated with Union Jacks to mark the occasion and biscuits and cakes were provided. Special thanks to members Anne and Lyndis who in true Blitz spirit managed to serve over 70 teas without a teapot!

All in all it was a fitting presentation to enable our u3a branch to commemorate all those who sacrificed so much in order to secure our future. May we never forget.

Check out churchill-lookalike.co.uk for more examples of Derek’s “Winston” speeches.