Foxley Camp in Mansel Lacy was a hospital for American and Canadian soldiers in WWII. But by 1946 its role had changed altogether and it was receiving hundreds of people displaced by the ravages of war in Europe, many of them families of Polish military personnel. This photo of smudgy-faced children playing in a shed at the camp with just rubble around them, speaks volumes. An image taken from the Derek Evans’ collection dating from the mid-fifties, it sits alongside hundreds more of children at play: paddling in the river, the Mayfair, sports day, hop picking, and Hereford carnival day and more which are being digitised by volunteers working with Catcher Media and Herefordshire Archives. But these are the children of those Polish refugees living in their safe haven, Foxley Camp. While there are no toys visible, this would have been a far cry from the deprivations their parents and siblings would have suffered during WWII and their eventual arrival in the UK. Their journey would have been a tortuous one, including exile to Siberia for some and a long march to Iran for others. It’s an extraordinary story of survival rarely heard today. By 1958, many of the camp’s inhabitants had moved on to new lives many staying in the county, or onto America or Canada. A similar photo today might ring alarm bells with various agencies. For Derek, he was simply capturing children at play, in all of its varied forms. We are presenting the theme of childhood as part of our upcoming multi-venue exhibition so do check out the exhibition link below for a chance to get up close to these wonderful images.
The PHOTOS Exhibition Feb – April 2020
This multi-venue exhibition is the only retrospective of Derek Evans’ work ever to be held. Many of the images on display have not been exhibited for over 50 years, and some may have never been seen outside of the dark room. Until now. We are showing original exhibition prints and images have been digitised and then printed from negatives or test prints that are part of the huge Evans archive held at Hereford Archive and Records Centre (HARC). Each exhibition reveals a different facet of Derek’s work. So we encourage you to visit as many of the venues as you can. We also have two free events.
Incredibly these five exhibitions are barely the tip of the iceberg of what has now been made available through this project
My family lived at Foxley 1950-1953
My father was in the French Fleet air arm and we were housed across the stream from the Polish families. Whilst I have no photos of my time there, I have many memories before moving into Hereford in time for the Queens coronation. I revisited Foxley 15 years ago and recognised the concrete pads on which our hut was built. I am now 75 and enjoyed the memories evoked by the photos.