Lowestoft Railway Station Hosts Wartime Evacuees

Saturday, 7 June 2025 06:00

Former Lowestoft Evacuee Alma Mingay and right Neil Williams Chair of the Friends of Glossop Station. Image Wherry Lines

Former Lowestoft Wartime Evacuees have been invited to their annual Summer Reunion which will take place at the town’s railway station today (Saturday 7th June).

The event, for former evacuees and family members is a chance to catch up and reminisce about their experiences 85 years since over 3000 school children and their teachers were evacuated by rail from the Suffolk town to Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, away from the imminent threat of invasion and bombing.

Over 600 of those evacuated found safety in and around the High Peak town of Glossop, with the links formed between the two communities all those years ago still celebrated today.

Each year the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and Lowestoft Central Project hosts the Summer reunion event at Lowestoft station, the very location those evacuated departed from aboard a number of special trains on 2nd June 1940.

Special guest at the reunion will be Neil Williams, Chair of the Friends of Glossop Station, who will update those attending with news about his hometown. Over 600 children and their teachers from Lowestoft found sanctuary in and around Glossop. Neil has been working for many years to preserve the memories and friendships made between Glossop and Lowestoft 85 years ago, hosting tours of the town for former evacuees and their families and like Lowestoft station, Glossop station also has permanent history panels retelling the events of the evacuation.

Neil Said, “I’m so pleased that both our communities continue to cherish these important memories and that the friendships made are not only still celebrated but are now being retold for future generations.”

Each year the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership and Lowestoft Central Project hosts the reunion event at Lowestoft station, the very location those evacuated departed from aboard a number of special trains in June 1940.

Jacqui Dale from the Lowestoft Central Project added; “It is always a great privilege to host the reunion and to enable former evacuees to meet up and reminisce about their time away.