On Saturday, 31 July, a special reunion event at Lowestoft Railway Station took place, unveiling two significant panels featuring memories of the wartime evacuation of Lowestoft schoolchildren, marking the delayed 80th anniversary, which was originally scheduled for June 2020.

In June 1940, 3000 children from Lowestoft and surrounding areas were evacuated on a series of trains to small towns and villages in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. During this time, Lowestoft was under serious threat of both bombing and invasion, prompting the Government to order the evacuation of over 3.5 million children away from the coast.

The Lowestoft Central Project together with the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership worked with the Lowestoft Evacuees Association to create the boards, which it is hoped, will help preserve the story of the town’s evacuation day for future generations. The Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership, Lowestoft Town Council and the Lowestoft Central Project provided principle funding for the panels, with additional support from the Northern Line Group of the East Suffolk Lines CRP. Content supplied from the Friends of Glossop Station, author and chair of the Lowestoft Evacuees Association, Christopher Brooks and co-author of the recent publication ‘A Long Way From Home’, which includes stories from forty former Lowestoft Evacuees, Clive Capps. With attendance from Cllr Alan Green, Mayor of Lowestoft, Cllr Andy Pearce, Community Rail Development Officer, Martin Halliday, Greater Anglia’s Community and Customer Engagement Manager, Alan Neville, and former evacuee and current Treasurer of the Lowestoft Evacuee Association, Mary Draper.

Image credit: Bob Collis and Phil Mummery.