IT WAS 65 years ago that a somewhat bewildered bunch of youngsters arrived by train at Eastleigh station.

They were wartime evacuees and the Gosport schoolchildren had never been parted from their families before.

Eastleigh provided a safe haven away from the horrors of war and it became very much a second home for the evacuees from the town just along the south coast.

So much so that in 1999 the bond was strengthened when the Old Gosportians (Eastleigh) Association was launched.

Across the weekend association members were back in town to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the evacuation of Gosport County School to Eastleigh on September 1, 1939.

It was held at the Leigh Road headquarters of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, which was once the North End Senior Mixed School where the Gosport youngsters were evacuated to between 1939 and 1944.

Joining in the celebrations were Eastleigh mayor Councillor June Hughes and Gosport's first citizen Councillor Keith Edwards.

An act of thanksgiving and remembrance was conducted by the Rev Delvin Knower.

Members caught up on all their wartime evacuee stories over a buffet lunch.

Among them was association secretary Jack Chantler, 79, who said: "I was at Eastleigh from day one of the evacuation on September 1, 1939.

"I can remember getting on a train and not knowing where we were going.

"We were a bit surprised to finish up in Eastleigh but we had some happy times here."

But the young evacuees did not entirely escape the horrors of Hitler's war.

Jack recalled that he and his fellow evacuees were walking through Fleming Park when a German plane suddenly started a machine gun raid on the area.

"How they missed us, I don't know," said Jack, who added that they were so surprised that they didn't dive for cover.

Fortunately Jack and his fellow Old Gosportians lived to tell the tale.