Group of College Men Spend Summers Working Among Cockneys of London

A small group of Harvard men have been spending their summers for the past few years in part of the seemingly-hopeless task of restoring London's devastated East End both physically and spiritually. The men belong to a dedicated group known as the Winant Volunteers who pay their own way to England and back to work among London's Cockneys.

An English clergyman first got the idea for such a group in 1947. He came to the United States to recruit college students between the age of 18 and 25 who would devote their summers to serving in clubs, parishes, camps, hospitals, and settlement houses in England's Cockney country.

With the aid and influence of the late Ambassador to England John G. Winant, a group was formed called the Winant Volunteers.

Pay Own Way

The Conscription Act had called all Englishmen between 13 and 20 years of age into the armed service, and the clubs were in great need of young men to act as leaders. American students, it was believed, would not only help fill this need, but would also add increased stimulus to the clubs and parishes which serve as both refugee and recreation centers, to the East End's poverty stricken children.

Volunteering to pay for their own passage to England, 10 Winants the first year, and more than 45 last summer, went to England to work in London's industrial and slum area. The actual work of the Volunteers in the clubs and parishes consists of leading and sharing in the athletics, theatre productions, camps, and general life of the Cockney youths.

The friendliness of the Cockney's, their desire for novelty and their curiosity about Americans, explain the popularity and success of the Winants. Commenting on the worth of the group, one harried club leader proclaimed that "two Volunteers are better than 50 assistant club leaders, for they accomplish more in two shorts months than all the rest in a year."

The Winants are not a denominational group, and their membership of over 100 includes Volunteers from all over the country. Although Harvard at present has only five students among the Winants, it was an early leader in the organization.

Winants at the College now are Francis C. Huntington '53, Robert T. Coolidge '53, John M. Forbes '54, Hugh Latimer '55, and John Wilson '55.

Winant John Forbes '54, stated that the value of spending a summer as a Volunteer comes from the "experience of becoming an intgral part of a community such a totally different surrounding.

"I returned from London," be continued, "feeling more a part the Cockney community than I ever felt for my own community at home.

The exchange of ideas and the learning of new ways and outlooks of life, "have not only broadened the Cockney's view of the American," Forbes added, "but even more so, the horizons of the Winants.