Churchill recently invited local school children to its Trewin Lodge retirement development in Yate to help bury a time capsule on site. Pupils from Abbotswood Primary School were joined by special guest Leonard Trewin, a 97-year-old D-Day veteran from Yate who inspired the name of the Lodge.
Along with apartment Owners from the Lodge, the children and Leonard enjoyed burying the time capsule in the Lodge’s communal gardens. Items placed in the capsule included Len’s beret and signed photos, a special scroll of artwork done by the children, and a copy of the local paper to mark the date.
Leonard also shared stories about his wartime experiences and showed off some of his medals including the Legion d'Honneur awarded to him by the French government in 2019 for his service in helping to liberate France during the Normandy Landings.
Headteacher Mrs Willoughby said: “This has been a fun project for the children to get involved in and a wonderful opportunity to meet such an inspirational local figure and learn from him about the past. We’re very grateful to Churchill Retirement Living for organising the visit - all of the pupils worked very hard on their contributions for the time capsule, which I’m sure our descendants will have a lot of enjoyment looking through one day. We had great fun thinking about what people in the future will think when they dig it up!”
Jo Ridehalgh, Regional Marketing Executive at Churchill Retirement Living, added: “We were delighted to host the children from Abbotswood Primary School and it was an honour to welcome Leonard along to make the event extra special. Everyone helped to provide some excellent contents for our time capsule, and our Owners also enjoyed talking with the pupils. We hope that some of the same children can return with their own families one day to see the capsule dug up.”