Sir Winston Churchill’s Former Nurse Returns

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30051, 8 February 1963, Page 2

Sir Winston Churchill’s Former Nurse Returns

A private nurse to Sir Winston Churchill for six months, including the time of his accident in Monte Carlo last year, Miss Robin Powell, of Christchurch, is back home again after two years overseas.

Full of admiration for Britain’s wartime leader, Miss Powell said yesterday the old man showed tremendous courage when he broke his hip and she felt it was a great honour to work for him.

“Sir Winston Churchill is pretty fit for a man of 88 and he still has terrific drive,” Miss Powell said. She was one of three private nurses caring for him and left his staff on New Year’s Eve to begin her journey back to New Zealand the next day. Before she left his service, Sir Winston Churchill gave her autographed copies of two of his books, “My Early Life” and "Frontiers and Wars.”

Miss Powell was included in the Churchill family party on Christmas Day tor a traditional dinner at Sir Winston Churchill’s London home at Hyde Park Gate. Or.e of the guests was the first great-grandchild of Sir Winston and Lady Churchill, the baby, Mark Dixon. While on nursing duty, Miss Powell met many famous personalities who visited Sir Winston Churchill while he was in hospital and convalescing at home. They included the Prime Minister (Mr Macmillan), Lord Freyberg, Mr D. Eisenhower, Lord Mountbatten, Lord Montgomery, Lord and Lady Avon, Lord Beaverbrook and many others. While be was in Middlesex Hospital, Sir Wineton Churchill’s three private nurses took turns on duty, working in conjunction with the hospital staff. ' Familiar Faces "He liked to have familiar faces around him and, besides, we knew his individual likes and dislikes,” Miss Powell said. In her leisure time while living at Hyde Park Gate, Miss Powell took the opportunity of doing a cooking course at Cordon Bleu in London. “Lady Churchill always wanted to know what I’d made at class, but my cooking was never served at table —that would have been an insult to the chef,” she said Miss Powell described Lady Churchill as a wonderful person who radiated charm and

was always genuinely interested in what those around her were doing. New Zealand Nunes New Zealand-trained nurses were very well received in England and there was no shortage of work for them, said Miss Powell, who trained at the Christchurch Hospital.

British hospitals required a nurse to stay for six months or a year. They would not take any nurse on the staff unless she agreed to remain for the stipulated period. For this reason Miss Powell decided to do private casing rather than apply for hospital nursing. “By taking private cases you can see more of the country and the pay is better than on hospital staffs,” she explained. Tour* in Europe

Another point in its favour was that she could take a private case for a while, then go for a tour in Europe, return to England and take another job, she. said. Robin Powell visited the Scandinavian countries, her favourite area in Europe; France, to see Paris in the springtime; Austria, for skiing; and Spain and Portugal —all between cases.

Back home in Banks avenue with her family and the Corgi pup they had waiting for her as a Christmas gift, Miss Powell is enjoying a holiday with no immediate plans for the future.