Hello from Northern England! The Guernsey evacuation of June 1940

Hello everyone,
For three years I have been researching the experiences of the thousands of Guernsey evacuees who came to Northern England in June 1940, and who remained here for five years until their island was liberated.

I have interviewed over 100 child evacuees so far, as well as a number of very elderly evacuated Guernsey mothers and teachers. I am sharing their story with English and Guernsey schools and museums this year. I have also set up a community group consisting of Guernsey evacuees who are resident in Cheshire and Lancashire, to help them to tell their stories to the local community in their own way.

Many of the Guernsey evacuees did not return home in 1945 but chose to remain in the communities in which they had settled.

If this subject is of interest to anyone, there is more information on my research website at
http://guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com

with my best wishes,
Gill

Gillian Mawson
Channel Islands evacuee researcher
University of Manchester

 

I just spent all of yesterday reading about the Guernsey population's occupation and "POW' experiences in Germany - etc. Guernsey Society Bookshop: World War II
What a nice surprize to see this topic and website link on the forum today. Thank you ever so much. Lovely timing. I look forward to pouring through your website.

 

Gill, welcome to the forum. Oddly enough I just watched a "Foyle's War" program that had a evacuee storyline. Small world.