A PLAQUE commemorating refugee children who found sanctuary in a Colchester village will be unveiled next week.
The Langham Community Centre is commemorating the 53 Basque refugee children who came to Langham in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.
Following the mass bombing of the town of Guernica, 3,840 Basque children and 217 teachers, helpers and priests were brought to safety in Britain.
They were placed in a tented camp before being dispersed throughout the country to 70 ‘colonies’.
One such colony was at The Oaks mansion in School Road, Langham.
The 53 children and their teachers arrived at The Oaks on June 8, 1937, where they would stay for two years.
The traditional symbol of the Basque people is the ancient Oak Tree of Guernica, and so the coincidence of the building’s name brought comfort and peace to the Basque children after the trauma of war and the separation from their families.
The Oaks was renamed Basque House, after the spacious garden and grounds and the open countryside of Langham made a lasting impression on the children.
A spokesman for Langham Parish Council said: "While being schooled by Spanish teachers, the children had opportunities to become acquainted with English ways.
"There were visits to the seaside and a football team played local school teams; the older boys even learned to play cricket.
"As the Spanish Civil War passed beyond the Basque country and northern Spain began to adapt to the new Francoist régime, pressure for the Basque children to be restored to their families became irresistible."
The children began to be sent home in late 1938. In 1987, on the 50th anniversary of their arrival in Langham, some of the children returned to their former home.
They met parish councillors and several other villagers who had known them at The Oaks years before, and presented a small plaque to the village which hangs inside the Community Centre.
The new plaque celebrates the friendship between the Basque children and the people of Langham, decorated in the red, green and white of the Basque flag.
It will be put up by the Langham Parish Council after a collaboration with the Langham Heritage Group.
The plaque will be unveiled at Langham Community Centre, School Road, on Friday July 26 at 11am.
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