21/03/98

Press Release

Eden Camp:

21st March 1998

ESCAPERS & EVADERS

After 55 years, some of the Allied forces most heroic escapees and evaders will be back behind barbed wire in a PoW Camp, many of them accompanied by those that helped them escape all those years ago.

Following on from the success of our first Evaders and Escapees weekend last May, Eden Camp will again be playing host to this unique group of men and women. The on-site reunion will take place on Satuarday 25th April 1998. It will be the largest gathering of those involved in the Escape lines ever. We expect 300 to attend, including members of the Royal Air Force Escaping Society, Army PoW Escape Club (Retd.), Monte San Martino Trust, Special Forces Club and MTB Association who will be travelling from all over Britain.

We also have a coach travelling over from the South of France containing the Villagers and Mayors of Saint Girons, Seix, and Faux which were important villages on the escape route South over the Pyrenees. We again have representatives coming over from Belgium, and also the Mayor of Seaby in Denmark and representatives from Holland attending. Many of those coming over organised the escapees on their journeys down the Escape Lines. Many were captured and interrogated by the Gestapo, others ended up in Concentration Camps, whilst others were compromised and had to go underground themselves.

Since last year, we have built up and extended our original display area dedicated to Escape Lines, and are proud to have Jean-Francois Nothomb (Franco) and Michelle Ugeux-Dumont (Michou) to officially open it this year.

We already have plaque memorials dedicated to the helpers and Army and RAF escapees on display in our Chapel of Remembrance - Hut 29, and will add a dedication to the Monte San Martino Trust in a separate ceremony on Satuarday.

The exhibition in Hut 9 contains information about the main escape lines, individual escapee stories and original artifacts relating to their stories. Helpers, evaders, escapees and Resistance workers have all forwarded information and memorabilia which ensures that the presentation is a totally unique display. We have created a life size tableau depicting members of the Resistance interrogating a downed RAF man and contacting London via a secret radio concealed in a suitcase (complete with sound effects and smells!).

There will be a large number of highly decorated veterans attending, the majority of whom will be staying in the nearby townss of Malton and Scarborough over the course of the weekend. Those taking part in the reunion are expected to start arriving on site from 10.00am Satuarday Morning, with a short service and wreath laying ceremony being held around our war memorial at approx. 12.00 noon. On Satuarday evening, it is hoped the entire group will come together again in the Talbot Hotel, Malton.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Museum if you require any further details.

admin@edencamp.co.uk