Two large panels featuring memories of the wartime evacuation of Lowestoft school children have been unveiled at a special reunion event at the town’s railway station.
The Lowestoft Central Project together with the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership worked with the Lowestoft Evacuees Association to create the boards which will help to preserve the story of the Lowestoft's evacuation day.
In June 1940 some 3,000 children from Lowestoft and the surrounding area were evacuated on a series of special trains, departing the station for small towns and villages in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
At the time Lowestoft was under serious threat of both bombing and invasion and the government ordered the evacuation of over 3.5 million children away from the coast.
600 of those evacuated in 1940 found safety in and around the town of Glossop and over several years in association with the Friends of Glossop Station, annual reunion events have taken place with information celebrating this unique bond between the two communities installed at each station.
As well as featuring memories of the evacuation day, the panels which were designed by James Mingay contain a personal letter written in 1940 from a Mrs Boffey to the mother of evacuee Clive Capps, then aged 7.
She cared for him at her farmhouse near Cresswell in Derbyshire and wrote to reassure his mother.
The installations also contain details of the schools evacuated and an image from the Bert Collyer Collection depicting the bombed-out Lowestoft Central School providing a graphic reminder of the severe dangers posed were the children to have stayed at home.
The special panels have been produced by Community Rail Development Officer, Martin Halliday, he said: “Lowestoft is indebted to the people of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire who took care of our young citizens, enabling them to lead their future lives in the full freedom which the country fought so hard to maintain.
“Hopefully the panels will help preserve the memories of this significant event and the important the role the host communities played.”
Town councillor Andy Pearce said: “Lowestoft Town Council is delighted to support this significant initiative. The installation of these panels will help tell the story of our town’s wartime evacuation and will be vital material for future generations to learn and honour our heritage.”
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