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Wartime evacuees in nostalgic return trip

by Tom Rowley
27/ 8/2008

MEMORIES of the last world war will be evoked when a group of pensioners from East Anglia drop in on Glossop this week.

They will be recalling a part of their childhood which was spent in the relative safety of Glossop, away from Lowestoft in Suffolk in the early 1940s.

In common with thousands of schoolchildren sent to safer parts of Britain, the evacuees headed north to rural north west Derbyshire to escape Nazi bombers who had targeted the East coast port.

The government feared it could also have been a possible landing stage for an invasion following the fall of France.

Their two-day long nostalgia trip, which continues on Thursday will include re-visiting old haunts and possibly meeting up with old friends.

These would include any ex-school chums from what was then Glossop Grammar School, the Duke of Norfolk primary school and St Luke’s infants school.

A tour of the town will follow a presentation by the group at the heritage centre on Henry Street, when they will be handing over a porcelain plaque made in Lowestoft as well as books detailing their childhood experiences. These will then be put on display at the centre.

The party from East Anglia includes Chris and Janet Brooks; Geoff and Mrs Durrant, Stella Turner (nee Burgess); Alan Mumford (nee Wyntle); Jean Cowlbeck (nee Lockwood); Maureen Meadows (daughter of Margaret Bunn); Brian Howard; Dorothy Dew (nee Howard); Mrs Ellis, Mrs Collinson and Mrs Alma Mingay (nee Long).

They are staying at the George Hotel on Norfolk Street in the town centre. Any old acquaintancies from the 1940s are invited to drop in for a chat between 6pm and 8pm on Thursday.