WINIFRED ‘WINNIE’ ROSE
1917-1943
Dunkirk Refreshment volunteer
Winnie was working in the buffet at Guildford railway station when trains conveying troops during
the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940 during the Second World War, stopped there. She was among the
volunteers who handed out food, drinks and cigarettes to the weary troops who were leaning out of their
carriage windows and doors.
Known as Winnie, she was born in 1917, lived with her parents, sister and brother at 7 Falcon Road,
Guildford. In 1939 she was doing laundry work and served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS),
at Hove in East Sussex, travelling exclusively by rail between there and home in Guildford.
In 1940 she married local boy Ronald Cranham, a builder’s labourer. Tragically she died aged 25 while
giving birth to her son Ronald Jnr. who sadly didn’t survive either.
