THE Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership plans to launch a Second World War evacuation commemoration project.

In memory of the 1939-1940 evacuations of women and children from the Tyneside industrial conurbation to the relative safety of rural Tynedale, the rail partnership plans to host the project next July on the 80th anniversary of the second wave of evacuation.

The rail partnership has teamed up with Wallsend Local History Society to identify interest in those who were involved in moving from Tyneside to the receiving towns of Haltwhistle, Brampton and the surrounding villages.

The partnership is appealing for people to come forward who may have been a child or young person at the time and watched events from the standpoint of a local with schools affected by the influx of evacuees.

A visit by identified Tyneside evacuees who moved to Tynedale then returned home as hostilities eased is intended to form part of the events. It is hoped that those with stories to tell will help to develop a new local archive on this topic.

Colin Moore, who is leading the project on behalf of Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership, said: ‘The 80th Anniversary is probably the last chance to commemorate with those involved what what was a significant event in their lives and local Second World War history.”