A bench at a historic site in Derbyshire has been dedicated in memory of a war-time evacuee from London.
The dedication of the seat to Vic Nagle at Wingfield Station follows the recent restoration of the historic site which was completed last Autumn by Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust (DHBT).
A spokesman for DHBT said: “Last year, shortly before the October opening of Wingfield Station, we received correspondence from Jennie, daughter of Vic Nagle.
“Jennie had spotted some information about our restoration project and wrote to tell us all about her father, who had taken Jennie and her sister to Wingfield on many occasions when they were children.
“This was because Vic had been evacuated here from north London in 1940 when he was eight years old.
“During this time Vic lived with a wonderful family in the adjoining Station House. He was allowed to play a big part in the daily signalling of trains and Jennie told us that he had many happy and special memories.”
The spokesman continued: “Vic told his daughters that when he arrived at the station he was the last evacuee and was left waiting for a family to take him in. Nobody came forward.
“Vic was obviously extremely upset, having seen all the other children collected. It must have been very frightening. However, the Station Master kindly stood up and said he would have Vic and, as it turned out, he had the very best place to be; living on the station itself.
“Vic last visited Wingfield Station around five years ago, and was saddened by how run down it had become so he was absolutely thrilled to learn about the restoration.
“Very sadly Vic passed away in October, so the plans to bring him over to Wingfield to see the completed restoration didn’t quite come to fruition.”
The Trust spokesman added: “Some of you who have visited the station might well have noticed our dedication to Vic on the bench. Last weekend his daughters, Jennie and Debbie visited Wingfield.”

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