'Service above self': remembering Sir Nicholas Winton 10 years later

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Sir Nicholas Winton – the Maidenhead man who helped mastermind a mission to rescue hundreds of children from the Nazis.

His efforts, which saved 669 mostly Jewish young people, saw him knighted for services to humanity and awarded the Order of the White Lion – Czechia’s highest decoration.

Sir Nicky passed away at Wexham Park Hospital on July 1, 2015, leaving a true legacy.

Reflecting on Sir Nicholas’ life on the poignant 10th anniversary, his son Nick Winton said: “If there’s a problem, it's our responsibility to find a solution.

“This is how he looked at life.”

Sir Nicholas’ statue at Maidenhead Railway Station has a doppelganger at Prague railway station and a street in the Czech capital is also named after him.

When Sir Nicholas died, then Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said: “For me, Nicholas Winton is a true role model of humanity, extreme modesty and immense civic courage.”

Sir Nicholas said his drive to help the children was simply about ‘ethics’.

“He found it very embarrassing when he was awarded an accolade or a medal – he felt he was an imposter, that he didn’t deserve it,” his son Nick said.

“He was being celebrated for instigating something, but he wasn’t the one who was mostly at risk.”

The Kindertransport mission, and the famous That’s Life TV episode where he was reunited with some of the children, were brought to life in the 2023 film One Life starring Sir Anthony Hopkins.

But there was much more to his life than just those years.

Mr Winton said: “The film takes two one-year snapshots, 50 years apart, and that’s what he’s known for – the Kindertransport - and yet he was involved in so many other things that just sort of tying him to one thing, it’s very one-dimensional.”

Sir Nicholas raised his son Robin, who lived with Down Syndrome and died at a young age, at a time when it was unconventional to do so in the 1960s.

Mr Winton said: “The advice in those days was, ‘well, you can’t look after him at home - it’s not possible - you’ll have to send him away’.

“My father thought, ‘that’s tragic – can we find a way to look after him?’”

The experience caring for Robin led Sir Nicholas to found Maidenhead Mental Handicap Society (MENCAP) and a decades-long advocacy for young people with learning disabilities.

He campaigned on behalf of Abbeyfield Care home in Maidenhead, which today has buildings named after him.

Sir Nicholas also spoke of his joy at working with the volunteer organisation Rotary Club.

Mr Winton said: “When he settled down in Maidenhead, he joined Rotary - which has the motto service above self - and he said it was one of the best things he did.”

Mr Winton said Sir Nicholas would have thought it ‘bizarre that anyone would want to celebrate his life’.

When asked what he would hope people could learn from his father’s life, he said: “It’s so rewarding to be involved in helping your friends, your community, people.

“You are connected to each other because we all share the same space and it's so much more satisfying if you help make it a nicer place.”