Workington pensioners remember World War 2 viewing The Great Escaper

Over 30 pensioners took part in the excursion to Workington’s Parkway cinema to enjoy the Silver Screen promotion, thanks to Stagecoach and Age UK.

The 2023 biographical film is the final role for both Glenda Jackson, who sadly passed away in June this year, and Michael Caine, who has recently announced his retirement.

The film is based on the true story of 89-year-old British World War II Royal Navy veteran Bernard Jordan who "broke out" of his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France in June 2014.

For the pensioners in attendance it brought memories rushing back of their own experiences with the war – both as children and as soldiers. Among them was Edna Akitt, from Seaton.

“It was a lovely film - funny, but also very sad,” the 87-year-old said. “It took me back to my childhood. I was born in 1935 and the Second World War broke out in 1939 so I was only young but I remember it like it was yesterday.

“They used to line the evacuee children up on [Seaton] village green and we’d all go outside and someone would shout ‘who wants this one?’.

“I remember a lady saying to my mother ‘don’t take any of them if you can help it, they’ll wet the bed’. The poor things.”

The screening have become about bringing people together. (Image: Supplied)

Edna continued: “Half my class was made up of evacuees. I remember a lot of them came from Newcastle and the north east area, and some from further afield.

“Some of them never went home as they didn’t have homes – or often families – to go back to. They were killed in the war.”

Between 1939 and 1944, Cumbria took in thousands of evacuees – both schoolchildren and mothers with children living in endangered areas, such as Tyneside.

Air raids presented a serious danger to everyone in England, but Cumbria was one of England’s safer counties. So large numbers of children and schools were evacuated to Cumbria.

The first wave of evacuation was in 1939, followed by a second wave when the air raids began in earnest in 1940.

The cinema trip was the latest Grand Day Out, made possible as part of a successful partnership between Stagecoach and Age UK West Cumbria, who linked up with Parkway cinema in Workington.

Also among those enjoying the bus-ride and cinema visit was 73-year-old veteran Richard Hill, from Bowery Court in Workington, who served two tours of duty in the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards.

He said: “The film really hit home and felt very real for people of our age, the older generation. It reminded me that you only have one life and you need to take each day as it comes.

“As I watched it, I kept thinking of what is happening in the world today and how lessons still haven’t been learnt. Greed, corruption and power causes wars.

There were plenty of laughs to be had at the screening. (Image: Supplied)

“If we all learned to be more accepting of one another and live together as one then the world would be a better place.”

Adam Cartwright, General Manager at the independent Parkway Cinema, said: “The senior screen event has been a feature of Parkway for nearly two decades now and this is something the team at Workington are really keen to build upon.

“Events like these are about building a community not only to come and watch a film but also to have a chat with others. Times have been hard, and we want to create a vibrant hub every Tuesday for people to enjoy themselves."

Tom Waterhouse, interim managing director at Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire said: “It is hugely important for us as a company to support the local community, so we hope this partnership with Age UK West Cumbria and Parkway Cinema makes this weekly event accessible to more people.

“Passengers can board either the number 30 or 300 Stagecoach bus at Workington bus station every Tuesday morning, which is free with an older person's bus pass, and travel the short distance to Dunmail Park.”