World War Two 'Gib' camp is venue for stamp launch

BALLYMENA Mayor, James Currie, joined local postman, Simon Northcott, at Dunaird in Broughshane last week to launch the Royal Mail's latest stamp issue 'Britain Alone' which is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who 'did their bit' for the war effort during Britain's darkest hour.

Issued on May 13, the stamps highlight the endeavours of the Homeland Heroes who contributed to the war effort at home, as Britain and the Commonwealth stood alone against the might of the Axis powers.

The site for the local launch was a fitting one as Dunaird was the site of one of the borough’s many Gibraltarian camps of the Second World War and it still has the remains of huts used by hundreds of evacuees from ‘The Rock’.

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The eight stamps feature civil service organisations like the Home Guard, alongside the 80,000 strong Women’s Land Army but also focus on the young evacuees, the contribution of the Royal princesses and the man who symbolised Britain’s bravery and defiance - Sir Winston Churchill.

And, if Churchill was seen as man of the hour, the mass evacuation of Dunkirk was certainly the event which summed up the people’s determination to succeed despite significant odds.

To commemorate the evacuation in June 1940 of more than 338,000 servicemen from the beaches of Normandy, Royal Mail has also issued a Dunkirk Miniature Sheet.

Barbara Roulston, of Royal Mail Group, said: “With the Britain Alone and Dunkirk stamps, we wanted to remind later generations how the public at large, especially those throughout Northern Ireland, were affected by the Second World War and the Belfast Blitz and to celebrate the huge contribution they made to the war effort”.