Channel Island Evacuees - Stockport, UK - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

"The Channel Islands (Norman: Îles d'la Manche, French: Îles Anglo-Normandes or Îles de la Manche[note 1]) are an archipelago of British Crown dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy, and are not part of the United Kingdom." link

"Although contingency plans had been made for evacuations of government departments in the United Kingdom, no contingencies for evacuation had been planned for the Channel Islands. The British government relaxed restrictions on travel between the UK and the Channel Islands in March 1940, enabling tourists from the UK to avail themselves of morale-boosting holidays in traditional island resorts.[5] The realisation of the necessity of civilian evacuation came very late, and with no forward planning and secrecy being maintained, communications between the island governments and the UK took place in an atmosphere of confusion and misinterpretation. The British Government consulted the islands' elected government representatives in order to formulate a policy regarding evacuation. Opinion was divided and, without a policy being imposed on the islands, chaos ensued and different policies were adopted by the different islands. The British Government concluded their best policy was to make available as many ships as possible so that islanders had the option to leave if they wanted to. The authorities in Alderney, having no direct communication with the UK, recommended that all islanders evacuate, and nearly all did so; the Dame of Sark, Sibyl Hathaway, encouraged everyone to stay. Guernsey evacuated all children of school age, giving the parents the option of keeping their children with them, or evacuating with their school. By 21 June it became apparent to the government of Guernsey that it would be impossible to evacuate everyone who wanted to and priority would have to be given to special categories in the time remaining. The message in Guernsey was changed to an anti-evacuation one; in total 17,000 out of 42,000 evacuated. In Jersey, the majority of islanders, following the consistent advice of the government, chose to stay; 6,600 out of 50,000 evacuated. Official evacuation boats started leaving on 20 June; the last official evacuation boat left on 23 June. Mailboat and cargo ships continued to call at the Islands until 28 June.

Thousands of children were evacuated with their schools to England and Scotland, and a number of Guernsey headteachers re-established their schools in Britain for the duration of the war. One such school was assisted financially by the 'Foster Parent Plan for Children Affected by War' where each child was sponsored by a wealthy American; one girl, Paulette, was sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt." link

The text on the plaque is as follows.

CHANNEL ISLAND
EVACUEES
In June, July and August 1940
Stockport welcomed over 1200
evacuees from the Channel Islands.
The children were cared for
by local families until the islands
were liberated in May 1945.


THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STOCKPORT

Blue Plaque managing agency: THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STOCKPORT Individual Recognized: local families that looked after Channel Island evacuees during WWII Physical Address: Stockport Railway Station Station Road Stockport, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport United Kingdom Web Address: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/06/2019 prussel visited it