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If you’ve ever dug into the archives, you’ll know that Dr Graham’s Homes has collected a surprisingly long list of famous endorsements over the years.

Past visitors to DGH have included Indira Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and the entire expeditionary force of the 1922 Everest summit attempt. Dr Graham himself once spent a weekend at Balmoral with the future Queen of England.

But did you know that an aunt of Sir Cliff Richard was once a Cottage 'Aunty' at the Homes?

It’s just one of the unlikely facts that emerges in The Lollipop Tree, an old documentary about the Homes that Sir Cliff narrated more than 50 years ago. Thankfully – owing to the magic of the internet – it’s still available on YouTube (see below).

Sir Cliff’s India connection

Born Harry Rodger Webb, Sir Cliff actually spent the earliest part of his childhood in India. His father worked for a catering contractor to the Indian Railways. The Webb family made their home in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Though he moved back to the UK at the age of eight, Sir Cliff’s memories of the subcontinent obviously ran deep. When a British TV crew asked him to narrate a film they were making about Dr Graham’s Homes in 1969 – around the time he had been making waves with Congratulations on the Eurovision Song Contest – he readily agreed.

A fascinating snapshot of DGH history

The Lollipop Tree (the name refers to a song that one of the children sings in the film’s opening) was produced by writer/director Tony Mayer. A long-time chronicler of India on film, Mayer is perhaps best known for the 1978 Ancient East history series Crossroads of Civilisation, an eight-part documentary narrated by David Frost.

Opening with spectacular (if grainy) mountainside shots around Kalimpong, The Lollipop Treeprovides a neat summary of the history of Dr Graham’s Homes. It then goes on to paint a fascinating, and at times very emotional, picture of the Homes as they were in the 1960s. Some of the highlights include:

Sir Cliff reflecting on his earliest memories of India

“My memories of India are childhood ones,” he says, in the film’s introductory narration. “I can remember flying kites in Calcutta. And I had a mum and dad who loved me. Looking back, I suppose I was privileged. I couldn’t know how many desperately unhappy children there were around me…”

Some emotional stories of children at the Homes

The documentary pulls no punches when it comes to explaining the circumstances of some children at the Homes. “Her mother is dead, her stepmother does not love her, her father is alive but takes no interest in her,” the film says of Diki, a five-year-old Tibetan refugee. “The only person who takes an interest in her is her grandmother, but she can’t do anything; she’s so very poor…”

The aunt who became a DGH Aunty

Perhaps most surprisingly, Sir Cliff reveals that one of his aunts actually worked at DGH. “[Dr Graham] developed a Cottage System,” he says in the film. “Now, I know this thing works because up until recently I had an aunt in Kalimpong who worked for nearly 10 years as a Cottage Aunty…”

Another famous face from DGH folklore

Sharp-eyed viewers will notice something familiar about the young Scottish farmer who appears in the film around the 13-minute mark. It’s John Webster, now DGHUK’s Honorary Vice President. The film shows Rev John, who worked at DGH from 1964 to 1973, quality-testing a cheese before it heads to Kolkata!

Watch the Lollipop Tree on YouTube

If you’d like to see The Lollipop Tree documentary in its full glory, you can watch the hour-long film on the YouTube channel of OGB alumnus Anirban Bhattacharyya.

Click here to view the film