May 22, 2010

Winston Churchill Society of Michigan

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. May 22, 2010

The Winston Churchill Society of Michigan held a meeting on May 22, 2010. The venue was the Forest Lake Country Club in Bloomfield Hills. The main event was a talk by Randy Barber, President, International Churchill Society of Canada. A few days prior, Randy had chaired the annual dinner of ICS Canada, held on the 70th anniversary of the day in 1940 when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister – a truly historic day for Churchillians not to mention the world!

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The meeting was opened by Solveig Barber singing the national anthems of Britain, Canada and the United States. Dick Marsh, president of the Michigan Society, introduced Randy who spoke on a wide range of topics and experiences within the 90 year life of Winston Churchill. Of course peppered throughout were WSC quotes some new and many familiar to Churchillians. Randy also had on display a small sampling of his extensive collection of Churchill documents and memorabilia.

Also at this meeting Gary Bonine, founder and a former president of the Michigan Society, spent some time going over media material about Churchill that is available from various sources. Churchill documentaries, films and books seem to be ubiquitous and are spread out over a long time frame. And so this review was useful in reminding us what a treasure is available both for education and entertainment.

A recent presentation by Dick Marsh and Bob Pettengill to two history classes at Birmingham’s Groves High School was reviewed. This was part of the “educational outreach” program of the Michigan Society. About 50 students in two 70 minute classroom sessions were in attendance. Lecture, Q&A, discussion and a short recording of a Churchill speech were included.

For this meeting there was an excellent turnout of 55 attendees including three new members and several guests of members. The speaker, a bucolic setting and promise of a barbecue luncheon assured this success. Michigan Society members are quite widely dispersed but live primarily in the tri-county area of Southeastern Michigan. The previous meeting was in Ann Arbor near the western edge of the this diaspora.

And so the Michigan Society thanks Randy and Solveig Barber for coming all the way from Toronto and braving the formidable United States Homeland Security procedures for entering the United States to meet with us.

Bob Pettengill