Thursday 26th November 2026 – Clive Brooks – Marbury Hall, Dunkirk and the Retreat from France May - July 1940
There were six catastrophic weeks for the nation. Personal accounts illustrate how several thousand men escaped to Britain. Cheshire received many men from Dunkirk, Normandy and Brittany in France. In Northwich alone, in one 24-hour period, 4,000 arrived. The local military failed to deal with the unexpected influx but the local populations of the town, villages and ICI heroically met the challenge. In early July they had all been reunited with their units but these events, and the requisitioning of large houses as accommodation, immediately led to mid-Cheshire itself becoming a major location for the British and later American troops.