Return fixture, 70 years on

RETURN fixture . . . skippers James Summers (left), and Oliver Higgins line up in front of their teams together with a shield presented to the school by the Guernsey Boys on a return visit in 1953

Memories of child evacuees who arrived in Oldham during the Second World War are being revived with a football match in Guernsey.

Two teams from Hulme Grammar School will travel south for the away day with a difference next Wednesday. Their trip is a thank-you marking the evacuation of Guernsey children to Oldham for safety from German occupation nearly 70 years ago.

A special school was set up within Hulme Grammar for Boys, and another for younger children at Hollins Central School in 1940. The evacuees became known as the Guernsey Boys. Two teams of under-13s from Years 7 and 8, as well as seniors from Years 12 and 13, will take part. Old Guernsey Boys, now pensioners, are expected to watch from the sidelines.