Hilary Fortnam

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.