Wills Hall Association

Eightieth Anniversary - Visit by Lady Soames

The highlight of last year was the visit of Lady Soames on 12th December to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the opening of Wills Hall by her father, Sir Winston Churchill. Intensive preparations and observance of protocol, together with support from the hall and University, culminated in an historic event attended by some 150 city and university dignitaries, the senior common room, students and Association members. The plaque unveiling ceremony and speeches, recorded and filmed for the archives, were transmitted onto a screen in the dining hall where most guests were gathered. Lady Soames was shown some Hall archives including a photograph of her father being carried aloft around the quad by Wills students on the day he opened Hall. Both before the dinner and afterwards she was introduced to a number of guests with whom she conversed with great interest and enthusiasm. At the dinner she spoke movingly about the visit she and her father made to the city and university on 12th April 1941 following the devastating bombardment which had been suffered the previous night.

There was a profound awareness that Wills Hall and the University had met a remarkable lady and one whose link with the past had lifted us that weekend in a way which will not be seen again, thus making the unique and historic event on whose preparations the Association and Hall had embarked all those months ago.