IT SEEMS unbelievable now that parents should ship off their children hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away, to live for years with complete strangers.

But that was what many thousands of parents were persuaded to do during the Second World War, to keep their children safe.

September sees the 70th anniversary of the mass evacuation of children in 1939 and to mark the event, Bexleyheath’s Central Library . in Townley Road, Bexleyheath, is holding a reunion for local evacuees.

Members of the Evacuation Reunion Society will be there to help record people’s memories of being sent away to far flung places, separated from parents and often their brothers and sisters, for the duration of the war.

The event, on September 3 at 3pm, is free and open to any evacuee who wants to share their experiences.

For details call John Grosvenor on 020 8836 7369 or speak to him in the local studies and archive centre at the library.