It is not often we bring news from the West Flemish village of Lendelede, but today we learned the touching story of the visit of a British women, the granddaughter of a woman who was named after the village. For it was here that during the Great War her great-grandfather John Woodhall was wounded and was cared for by the nuns of Lendelede.
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British woman visits the Flemish village her grandmother was named after
Colin Clapson
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In gratitude, he later named his daughter after the place where his life was saved. Sadly, ‘Lendelede’ herself has passed away. But her granddaughter, Helen from Birmingham in England, thought the story was so special that she travelled from the UK especially to discover what today is once again a sleepy West Flemish village.
A promise kept
Like so many of his generation the young Briton John Woodhall came to Belgium as a member of the Royal Artillery Medical Corps (RAMC). ‘Not to fight, but to take care of wounded soldiers. Fate brought him to Lendelede, where he too was injured and taken in by the Sisters of the Convent of St Vincent's,’ his great-granddaughter Helen recounts.
The nuns devotion and care made such a deep impression that John Woodhall made a special promise: his next daughter would be named after the village where his life had been saved. In 1920, Lendelede Elizabeth Woodhall was born, joining his two elder children Norman and Marie in the family. ‘The connection with the Belgian village remained, as John sent a copy of her birth certificate to the nuns. They reacted to the news about their ‘jolly and funny Johnny’, as they remembered him, with great joy’ Helen told Charlotte Cattebeke of VRT Radio 2 West Flanders.
Now, more than a century after John Woodhall's promise, his great-granddaughter walked the streets of Lendelede. Together with a friend, Helen visited the area during a week's holiday in France. Not only the local mayor, aldermen and 2 nuns welcomed her with coffee and cake at municipal hall, but she also visited the convent where her great-grandfather received such good West Flemish care.