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Sculpture to remember the Alderney evacuees

Homecoming December 1945

Fundraising is underway for a permanent memorial to the Alderney evacuees who never made it home after the war.

Alderney politician Steve Roberts is behind a move to get a permanent memorial in place to those who had to leave the island suddenly in June 1940, but never returned:

"The church bells rang out at six o'cock in the morning and they were told to assemble by the boat, with one suitcase each.

"They were told to either kill their pets or release them.

"They (the families) were going out into the unknown."

Alderney's population spent more than five years in exile but Mr Roberts says some of the older ones, or those who became ill, did not make it back:

"A number of people actually died during those war years. 

"They never knew victory, they never saw Alderney again, never breathed the island air, nor came back to their homes."

Mr Roberts says his family was affected and he would like to see a life size wooden sculpture at the harbour to remember those people:

"It'll be a family of four, with four suitcases, and it will remind people and make people ask questions about our history."

Fundraising is set to begin in the New Year.

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