The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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HYDE PARK—The weather continues so warm in our area that it is hard to believe that we are almost into January. Almost everyone seems to have some kind of cold or virus attack, which I think comes from this most-unseasonable weather.

Our party of children here at Hyde Park is beginning to get smaller as one of them leaves for New York today and back to Texas tomorrow. He is Elliott's youngest son, David, and I hate to see him go because it has been such fun having him. And I am particularly sorry that the visit which my son, Elliott, and his wife, Minnewa, have made to the East is coming to an end next week. It has been a great joy to have them here, but I know they must get back to their ranch. The rest of us, however, shall stay here until the second of January when we will go back to New York.

I was most interested the other day to see an account of the presentation of the birthday fund which had been raised for Sir Winston Churchill. The Rt. Hon. Lord Moynihan, honorary treasurer of the Winston Churchill Eightieth Birthday Presentation Fund, called upon the Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street and presented him with a check for one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, representing an interim payment on account of the subscriptions to the fund which will not close until this coming year. In a letter which Lord Moynihan read, it was said that "out of their affection and gratitude your friends in Britain and other lands have subscribed to this gift for you.

“From the thousands of letters which we have received we can assure you that the contributors to your birthday present are anxious that you should spend it in whatever way you, yourself, may choose.”

In answering, Sir Winston expressed his thanks and gratitude and then added, "What has been subscribed is more than adequate for my personal needs. Therefore, I am forming a trust, to be known as the Winston Churchill Birthday Trust. Included among its objects will be the endowment of my home, Chartwell, which is already the property of the national trust, as a museum containing relics and mementos of my long life. I hope that any further gifts, other than those which the donors wish should be personal to me, may be confined to the Winston Churchill Birthday Trust.

“It will be an enduring pleasure in the months or years that remain to me to guide the trust to charitable purposes which command my allegiance.”

Many gifts were sent to this fund from this country and subscriptions either can be sent directly to the fund at 156 Charing Cross Road, London, England, or through the headquarters of the Chase National Bank at 18 Pine Street, New York City. Many of us will remember Winston Churchill's voice during the war days and what it meant to us to know that he held our allies across the sea so staunchly against the Germans. And we will be wanting to add a small or large contribution as our thanks for the encouragement and confidence given us in those years.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

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Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, December 30, 1954

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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