Rally ticket

What is it?

It is a ticket to a rally that was held at Belle Vue on 19 June 1943. The rally was attended by thousands of evacuees from Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney and Sark. They had fled their homes to England in June 1940, just days before the islands were occupied by Germany.

When did you get it?

2011

Where did you get it from, and how?

It was given to me by the family of Muriel Parsons, who attended the rally during the war.

What does it mean to you?

The original ticket was placed in Muriel's diary where she wrote about her feelings on the day of the rally.  She was very excited at the prospect of seeing so many fellow evacuees in one place. However, afterwards she wrote, "It was sad not knowing if we would ever meet again because of air raids around the Manchester area. Some of the adult evacuees looked very old since I had last seen them, with their worries about their relatives who are trapped in the occupied Channel Islands."  Pathe News actually filmed the Belle Vue event and this can be viewed on BBC Guernsey's website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-15960347