THEY will be turning the clock back 65 years to when they arrived in Eastleigh as fresh-faced wartime evacuees.

Back then they were just schoolchildren who had never been parted from the their families.

Eastleigh provided a safe haven away from the horrors of war and became very much a second home for the evacuees from Gosport.

They have never forgotten the links that they forged with the townsfolk and the bond was strengthened in 1999 when The Old Gosportians (Eastleigh) Association was launched.

And on Saturday they will be at the Hampshire Fire and Rescue headquarters to mark the 65th anniversary of their arrival in Eastleigh as evacuees sheltering from Hitler's bombs.

The fire headquarters is housed in the building which was once North End Senior Mixed School, where the Gosport youngsters were evacuated to between 1939 and 1944.

A few years ago the association produced a book called Remember Eastleigh 1939 -1944, which was packed with enticing tales and compelling truths of schooldays in wartime Eastleigh.

There is also a list of the 150 popular songs that kept the nation's spirits high.

On Saturday they will be singing from that same wartime hymn sheet when they gather at Eastleigh's former North End school for more memories of the old school yard.