Rochdale Bevin Boys urged to apply for badge

Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate Simon Danczuk has urged any surviving Bevin Boys, including both volunteers and those who were selected to work down the mines, to apply for a special badge of honour that formally recognises the contribution they made in the UK coalfields during and immediately after World War II.

Yesterday the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, awarded the first Bevin Badges to a group of 27 Bevin Boys, invited to Downing Street for a special presentation ceremony to mark the 60th Anniversary of the last Bevin Boy being demobbed.

"The service that the Bevin Boys gave to this country was incredibly important and not only helped us to win the war but also to rebuild our country after the war,” said the Prime Minister, adding that like that of the Spitfire Women, the Women's Timber Corp and the Women's Land Army, the Bevin Boys had not, until now, received the recognition they deserved.

Mr Danczuk added that he was pleased that the efforts of the Bevin Boys, who were recruited in 1943 by then Minister for Labour and National Service, Ernest Bevin, in response to an increasing shortage of labour in the coal mining industry, were finally being recognised.

“There are many unacknowledged heroes in Britain and the Bevin Boys deserve full recognition for what they did,” he said. “They were the forgotten conscripts that went down the pits to keep Britain running. We all owe a debt of honour to the young men who supported the war effort and I hope any Bevin Boys in Rochdale will come forward now to get the recognition they rightfully deserve.”

The Bevin Boys Association is currently trying to trace all 48,000 Bevin Boy conscripts, optants or volunteers who served in Britain's coal mines during and after World War Two - 1943 to 1948. All remaining Bevin Boy records, documents and photographs are now housed at Manchester’s Imperial War Museum and Mr Danczuk said he hoped any Rochdalian Bevin Boys would share their stories with the local media. “As unsung heroes of the Home Front I am sure they have fantastic stories and I, personally, would love to hear of their experiences,” he said.

To date nearly 3,000 applications have been received for a Bevin Badge and surviving Bevin Boys, including both volunteers and those who were selected to work down the mines, and the widows of Bevin Boys who died after the date of announcement, can apply for the badge by visiting the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website at:

• www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/coal/bevin

Date article online: 26/03/2008