A presentation is taking place at 2pm
today at Downing St to recognise and honour the sacrifices
made by the Bevin Boys in the UK coalfields during and
immediately after World War Two. It is 60 years to the day
since the last Bevin Boy was demobbed. Ernest Bevin,
Minister of Labour, authorised the scheme to offset the
earlier loss of miners who'd been allowed to join HM Forces.
Each Bevan Boy will be entitled to
a Bevin Boy's Veterans Badge. Those invited to attend
include former Oldham winger John Etty who will be
accompanied by his local MP, Joan Humble.
The award was announced in June last
year by the Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform.
John, brought up in Batley passed his
medical examination for the Royal Navy and was told to
expect his call-up papers within two weeks. Instead, he
received a travel voucher to Pontefract where he was ordered
to report to the Prince of Wales Colliery with residential
accommodation provided in a hut on a cricket ground in
Castleford!
Etty overcome osteo-myelitis to become a
star rugby league winger during the 1950's. Signed by the
Roughyeds from Batley in 1955 where he had represented
Yorkshire and played for a British Empire 13 he holds
Oldham's post-war try scoring record - 43 touchdowns season
1956-57. During his rugby league career he won every medal
that the game had to offer.
He is a member of the Oldham
RLFC Hall of Fame.
