24-hour war effort

TIN hat time . . . for station manager Dave McGealy with radio station presenters and World War II evacuees Gerry and Barbara Dignan

Radio rewinds to 1939

WARTIME memories and music will pervade the airwaves across the borough tomorrow as part of a special 24-hour broadcast from Oldham Community Radio.

The station will mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War with a round-the-clock show to educate younger listeners and take older ones on a trip down memory lane.

Station manager Dave McGealy said: “We will only play pre-1945 music and there will be archive recordings of wartime memories from local and national people. It will be the station’s third event remembering the people who were affected by the Second World War.

The first was in 1995, to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, and the second 10 years later on the 60th anniversary.

“In 2005, a lot of the memories were from people who had been children during the war, when 10 years earlier they had been from people who had served during the war,” said Dave.

He added: “We believe the history of the Second World War in Oldham needs collecting, particularly as nationally the 70th anniversary will be marked by barely a whisper, which is a great shame.

“It’s important we keep those local memories from a place which was greatly affected by the war.

“It was here, at Abbeyhills, where a V1 bomb fell after it was launched from German aircraft over the North Sea with a target of Manchester.

“That was at 5am on Christmas Eve, 1944.

“More than 20 people were killed, and tomorrow’s broadcast will include some of the speeches and fears of the day,” said Dave.

Tune in to Oldham Community Radio on 99.7FM from midnight tonight.