{"id":273406,"date":"2025-08-26T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=181879"},"modified":"2025-08-26T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T07:00:00","slug":"theresa-may-unveils-plaque-honouring-british-schindler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=273406","title":{"rendered":"Theresa May unveils plaque honouring \u2018British Schindler\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Former Prime Minister Theresa May has unveiled a plaque at Maidenhead station, paying a heartfelt tribute to the man known as the \u2018British Schindler\u2019.<\/p>\n

Great Western Railway (GWR), in partnership with local care provider Abbeyfield Maidenhead, welcomed Baroness May to reveal the impassioned homage to Sir Nicholas Winton, the man who rescued 669 children from Prague on the eve of World War Two.<\/p>\n

Sir Nicholas, a Maidenhead resident, found homes and arranged the safe passage of the children, most of them Jewish, to the UK in 1939. The operation later became known as the Czech Kindertransport.<\/p>\n

Sir Nicholas\u2019s work went unnoticed for nearly 50 years until he was invited to appear on the TV programme That\u2019s Life in 1988. He was reunited with several of the children he had rescued and became known as the \u2018British Schindler\u2019.<\/p>\n

In 2003 he was knighted by the Queen for \u2018services to humanity, in saving Jewish children from Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia\u2019. He was later awarded the highest honour of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion (1st class). He passed away in 2015, aged 106.<\/p>\n

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Members of Sir Nicholas\u2019s family looked proudly on as the brass plaque was dedicated, alongside the famous statue of him on a bench reading his newspaper as he waits for his train. The life-sized statue, which sits on Platform 3, was unveiled by the man himself back in 2010 along with Baroness May.<\/p>\n

Designed to provide visitors to the station with a valuable insight into Sir Nicholas\u2019s life, the plaque reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cSir Nicholas Winton MBE. 1909-2015.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1939 he saved the lives of 669 endangered children, transporting them from Prague to London by rail, which became known as the Czech Kindertransport.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are many thousands alive today who would not be here but for his actions\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Baroness May said: \u201cI was pleased to join members of the Winton family and Great Western Railway to unveil a plaque on the Sir Nicholas Winton statue at Maidenhead railway station.<\/p>\n

\u201cPassengers often ask who the statue commemorates; now they will know, and in learning his story, they will encounter the quiet courage of an individual whose selflessness saved so many lives.”<\/p>\n

Sir Nicholas\u2019s son, Nick Winton, commented: \u201cThe plaque to be unveiled at Maidenhead railway station tells the story behind my father\u2019s statue \u2014 and it\u2019s fitting that it stands on a platform where trains run from east to west, just as he helped children travel from danger to safety. It\u2019s a reminder of the Power of One person to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sir Nicolas\u2019s benevolence didn\u2019t stop with the end of the war. After moving to Maidenhead with his family, Nicky, as he was affectionately known, became heavily involved with charitable organisations in the area along with his wife Grete, with a commitment to improving the lives of those in his new-found community.<\/p>\n

Having worked alongside Major Richard Carr-Gomm OBE, the founder of the Abbeyfield Society, Sir Nicholas went on to establish The Abbeyfield (Maidenhead) Society in 1973. His first local project was the creation of a sheltered housing unit for eight people.<\/p>\n

This was followed by the opening of Winton House in 1980, offering care and support for an additional 29 residents. Later, having built a strong financial foundation for the Society, Sir Nicholas oversaw the development of a second residential care home, Nicholas House, which opened its doors in 2011.<\/p>\n

Mark Hopwood, managing director of GWR, commented:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so grateful to Baroness May, Sir Nicholas\u2019s family, and Abbeyfield Maidenhead for joining us today to pay tribute to one of history\u2019s greats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year we are marking 200 years of the Railway and how it has enriched communities, shaped society and, in the case of the Kindertransport, even saved lives. It feels incredibly fitting that this year, we celebrate the local man who made a global impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir Nicholas\u2019s compassion and resourcefulness meant that 669 children escaped the horrors of World War Two and this plaque will serve as a powerful reminder to all pass through the station, that they are in the company of a quiet hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Image credit: GWR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Former Prime Minister Theresa May has unveiled a plaque at Maidenhead station, paying a heartfelt tribute to the man known as the \u2018British Schindler\u2019. Great Western Railway (GWR), in partnership with local care provider Abbeyfield Maidenhead, welcomed Baroness May to reveal the impassioned homage to Sir Nicholas Winton, the man who rescued 669 children from [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8221,47,16092,16016,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","category-rail-news","category-stations","category-train-operating-companies","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=273406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273407,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273406\/revisions\/273407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=273406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=273406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=273406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}