Bevin Boy John honoured for service

5:15pm Friday 28th March 2008

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A Fleetwood pensioner has become one of the first Bevin Boys in the country to be awarded a veterans' badge, meeting the Prime Minister at the same time.

John Etty, 81, of Buttermere Avenue, travelled to London with his wife of 58 years, Kath, to be presented with the badge by PM Gordon Brown, along with around 25 other former Bevin Boys.

Mr Etty worked down the mines in Yorkshire between 1945 and 1948, and went on to become an outstanding Rugby League player, winning every domestic honour in the game.

He said: "It was a brilliant day for me and my wife, the weather was really nice and we had a great chat with the PM, who thanked us for our service and made a nice speech."

The Bevin Boys scheme was introduced in 1943 by the then Minister for Labour and National Service, Ernest Bevin, in response to an increasing shortage of labour in the coal mining industry.

The scheme ran from 1943 to 1948 and involved recruiting men aged between 18 and 25 years to work in coal mines rather than serve in the armed forces.

Mr Etty, who has two daughters, Janice who lives in Fleetwood, and Jean, who lives in Manchester, as well as four grandsons and a great-grandaughter, added: "I was expecting to be called into the Navy, I was working as a clerk in the social services during the war, so I was surprised to be called in as a Bevin Boy.

"But I met some very, very brave men down those mines, working in difficult conditions, there were a lot of accidents, injuries and even deaths."

After his time down the mines, Mr Etty spent 41 years working for social services, and moved to Fleetwood in 1971, to take up a post as Blackpool's deputy director of social services.

He is also something of a Rugby League legend, having played for Batley, Oldham and Wakefield Trinity.

He won every domestic honour in the game, and was part of the Wakefield side that won the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 1960, where he met the Queen.

Joan Humble, Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP, said: "I was delighted to attend the presentation of a Bevin Boys' badge to Mr Etty at 10 Downing Street for his endeavours at the end of the Second World War.

"It is with honour and gratitude that we recognise the Bevin Boys' tremendous work with the award of this special badge."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "The service that Bevin Boys gave to this country was incredibly important and not only helped us to win the war but also to rebuild our country after the war."