SIXTY years ago a tiny Hampshire village forged an unlikely link with one of the most isolated islands on earth.

More than 260 refugees arrived in Calshot after being evacuated from Tristan da Cunha after a huge volcanic eruption threatened to destroy their home.

After being taken to Cape Town the residents travelled to the UK aboard a mail ship provided by the Southampton-based Union Castle Line.

They were housed in an army barracks at Mersham, Surrey, before being transferred to an RAF base at Calshot, arriving on January 21 1962.

Now a book has been published to mark the 60th anniversaries of the eruption and the day the islanders settled in Hampshire.

The 300-page book, Nothing Can Stop Us, has been written by Richard Grundy co-chairman of the Tristan da Cunha Association, and London-based author Neil Robson.

It covers the build-up to the eruption, the island’s evacuation and the refugees’ time in England.

Many soon settled into their new way of life, landing jobs at an electric blanket factory in Hythe and other businesses in the area.

But some families found it difficult to handle the publicity surrounding their arrival in the UK. They also had to cope with the exceptionally harsh winter of 1962-63.

The volcano was eventually declared safe and most of the islanders returned to their South Atlantic home within two years.

But the street where they lived is still called Tristan Close and a harbour on Tristan da Cunha has been named after the village that took them in.

One of the evacuees was Adam Swain, who settled in Hythe and spent part of his working life at Husbands shipyard in Marchwood.

Mr Swain helped recover the wreck of the Tudor warship Mary Rose in 1982 and also served as a foreman at the Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment in Dorset. He died aged 80 in 2016.

Other islanders who remained in the UK included Dennis Green.

When he and his wife Ada realised their house had been destroyed by the eruption they chose to stay in Calshot instead of returning to Tristan da Cunha.

Mr Green, who died aged 89 in 2020, worked at Fawley power station for more than 25 years.

The book is available online at tristandc.com/nothing-can-stop-us.php#synopsis.