Brighouse is warmly acknowledged in a new book about the evacuation of the Channel Island of Guernsey during the Second World War.

In just two days ahead of the invasion of the island by German forces in June 1940, around 18,000 people boarded a flotilla of small boats to sail to the UK mainland and then onward by train to various towns across northern England.

Around 100 evacuees from Guernsey and the neighbouring island of Jersey were taken to Brighouse, where they were billeted with local families or allocated available council houses and spent the ensuing five years living, working or going to school there.

The new book, A Home from Home, includes the story of one Guernsey schoolboy, Len Giles, who was 13 years of age when he was forced to leave his island home.

Len arrived in Brighouse with his parents, three sisters and two brothers and they were allocated a house in Bradford Road.

Len enjoyed spending his days playing with his younger siblings in nearby Wellholme Park, but his 14th birthday soon arrived and he got a job in a bakery for a while and then moved to work at Atkinson’s Mill.

With the support of local residents, the evacuees from Guernsey and Jersey set up the Brighouse Channel Island Society and met regularly for dances, parties, bingo and other social events.

When the War ended in 1945 and the evacuees left Brighouse to return to their island homes, they presented the town’s mayor with a certificate expressing their gratitude for the hospitality and kindness of the Brighouse people.

Brighouse Channel Islands Society certificate

The certificate was hand-drawn by S H Francis and, around the central message of thanks, it depicted scenes from each of the Channel Islands – Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney and Sark.

The Giles family also moved back to Guernsey in 1945, but Len found it difficult to settle and soon opted to return to Brighouse, where he met and married Betty and they began their family there.

Len did eventually return to Guernsey with his family in 1964, when his father died and he was required to take over the running of the family’s horticulture business.

A Home from Home is written by Lucy Leadbeater and Neil Robin and is available in all good bookshops and also online from Amazon or www.pegasuspublishers.com/books/latest-releases/a-home-from-home.