Hilary Fortnam(1946-2013)
Hilary was the daughter of Thomas the Tank Engine creator
Wilbert Awdry. She worked as a lay
minister at St. Michael and All Angels church in Highworth, Wiltshire
where she was later buried. In Autumn 2011, Hilary sent a letter to the
Daily Mail criticising HiT Entertainment, the current owner of her
father's creation, for removing the word "Christmas" from the show as
it is not now deemed "politically correct". She complained that it was
not what her father wrote and they had taken "Christ" out of
"Christmas". As a result, HiT Entertainment re-dubbed several episodes
of Thomas & Friends to mention the word
"Christmas" again. Hilary died in her Highworth home on November 25th,
2013 following a lengthy battle with cancer at the age of sixty-seven.
