World Friendship Association

[boxlodge]

Does anyone know anything about the World Friendship Association which was set up just after the last war and organised visits to foreign countries on an exchange basis? It went belly-up financially in about 1947. My father was a creditor and I would like to know if there is any information available anywhere. Google search gives organisations with similar names but not apparently with any connection.

[Maudlettice]

I am unable to provide the information you seek, boxlodge, but I am absolutely amazed to see your reference to this association. Just after de-mob from the ATS in early 46 I lived in Wandsworth and used to play table tennis in a house with large rooms at an un-remembered address which was then HQ of the World Friendship Association (the club for which I played rented the room for private practice twice a week). The table tennis was the attraction for me, and my memory of the Association is that they were regarded as an odd lot best not mixed with ( they were thought of as being a "commie" organisation, but you would have had to have lived at that time to understand the full nuances of the word "commie"). I do recollect that they vanished suddenly, but cannot remember the circumstances, if I ever knew them.

[boxlodge]

Thank you for your response, Maude. Not sure if this is the organisation I referred to, but it might be. The exchange scheme for young people that the WFA promoted seemed to be quite above board. I stayed with a family in the Netherlands as part of it, and I know of Dutch people who came to the UK. It must have been set up with some sort of company status as I recall there being a creditors meeting when it was wound up.

[Maudlettice]

Oh, it was definitely WFA. I have good reason for a clear memory on that. They were in a street to the North or South of the shortest main road route between Putney Bridge and Acre Lane, but that is not of much help. I met people who had been on holiday through them. I did not mean that they were disreputable, in 1946 "commie" had other meanings. I don't suppose that Companies House records go back that far, but if you have share certificates why not try a letter to the Times and Telegraph Money/Business sections who seem to be quite good with that sort of query. Good luck.

[Maudlettice]

I have just found World Friendship Association Ltd., Regd Office 29 Portman Square, London SW 1. It was first incorporated in 1945 and has not filed a return since 1947 and is currently under proposal to strike off.

[Maudlettice]

Just to finish, the company number is 00395885 and if you phone [phone] quoting name and number you can purchase for a trivial sum a copy of the last filed documents. It is best to select the post option, not net. So far as I can see only a copy of the 1947 accounts is there, but ask them to have a look, there may be others. This will yield names and addresses of accountants, perhaps auditors, and the names of the officers at the time. There could be a shareholders list, but unlikely. It looks as if it was never wound up. It might have become part of something else and forgotten about. This will get you started, and persistence will bring its own reward! Thanks for the memory! Farewell.

[boxlodge]

Excellent stuff Maude. Many thanks for all your help on this, it has been most useful. What has brought this about is that I recently remade contact with the person I stayed with in the Netherlands through the WFA in 1946. He, in turn, is keen to find another of the group which visited at the time, but I think this is going to be difficult unless there is still a record of all the participants at WFA, which seems unlikely. However it's worth a try and, as you say, persistence is the key! I was also curious to know in a general way a bit more about the WFA and what caused its downfall. Anyway, once again many thanks.

[Ottoludo]

Hello. Is there still someone there?
I, asa danish schoolboy was in Cardif in the summer of 1948 with an old english warship,
a Frigate. We sailed from Esbjerg (DK) to close to London.
The organisation at the time was a dane who had spent most os his life in the UK.
He bought the ship out of his own pocket in 1947/48. I think the name of the ship was
"Friendship". Anyway I and my classmates had a fint 2 week trip to Wales.
We even met Mr. Winston Churchill himself, who visited Cardif; (W.C. was not
Prime minister at the time) I was 14 years old at the time. I had been in England the year before, to my sisters wedding in August 1947.
Otto V. Ludvigsen
DK 2840 Holte
Denmark
p.t. Gran Canaria

[Berthine]

My mother went in a group on a trip/exchange? to England with it:
I hear from my mother that she went with a group from Holland to England in 1947 on a trip/exchange organised by the World Friendship Association but that the Association was gettting disbanded and they were left waiting on a London train station (King's Cross?) for 7 hrs! (after already having travelled over land & water by ferry from Holland! They were supposed to go to Huddersfield I hear from my mother that she went with a group from Holland to England in 1947 on a trip/exchange organised by the World Friendship Association but that the Association was gettting disbanded and they were left waiting on a London train station (King's Cross?) for 7 hrs! (after already having travelled over land & water by ferry from Holland! They were supposed to go to Huddersfield where people were waiting to receive them but were sent to Scotland instead where they spent an agreeable time after having recovered from the ordeals of their journey

[antoniaNZ]

I know this is an old thread, but just today I was clearing through some of my mother's old papers and found the June 1947 newsletter from the World Friendship Association. I am happy to send you a copy if you're interested.

[boxlodge]

Hi AntoniaNZ. I started this thread some time ago and have only just opened it again, surprised to see there is still some activity. I would be very interested in the newsletter if you wouldn't mind sending it.

[magswags]

I typed in WFA and got to this 'answerbank' We had three Dutch young men staying with us in Battersea, probably in 1947. My father also took us to a party in a hall somewhere in South London. In my memory he organised it, but I was only seven, so maybe that is not quite right.

[Littlejohn34]

I belonged to Worldfriends which was, I believe, a successor to the World Friendship Association and belonged to it in 1951/1952 and a few years after. If I am correct it started in Denmark and had groups (or branches) in a number of European countries. The basic idea was to foster friendship between nations through home-to-home exchange holidays. I belonged to the Lewisham Branch in S.E.London and we had exchanges with Norway, Denmark, Holland,
Germany, Austria, Italy and Belgium. The U.K. President was Arthur McTaggart Short (who also had connections with Scouts) and their office was in Earls Court Road. Branches would raise funds to provide a programme of entertainment for the visiting parties and they did likewise on the return exchange. We had some wonderful holidays and made many good friends in these countries. I am not sure when it folded up but by this time many schools and town-twinning groups were doing similar arrangements. It really did open your mind to the people of other countries and was a brilliant concept.

[Hartolit]

Article from 1947
ONE WHO BELIEVE IN EXCHANGE VISITS
Arthur McTaggart Short, a sports goods distributor from Cardiff, has
built his own organization "World Friends", Styling him self "World Friends Number 1". He says
"There is no better advertisement than a talking child."
He arranges exchange visits to the Continent for children over 14.