THE 2017 Ferryhill History Society calendar is now in the shops and it turns the clocks back to 1943.

It contains pictures from the Bevin Boys Camp which was established off Dean Road at the southern edge of Ferryhill, near the A167.

Bevin Boys came about because in the early years of the war, too many miners had volunteered to join the armed forces. By mid-1943, coal was running seriously short, partly because 36,000 of the country’s 700,000 miners had gone to war.

Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin introduced a scheme to alleviate the shortage: one-in-ten of all new conscripts would be sent underground rather than to the front. It was a completely random selection: one of Mr Bevin’s secretaries would draw a number between zero and nine out of a hat and the next week’s conscripts whose National Service numbers ended in the drawn digit would be sent to the pits.

It was controversial: it was almost regarded as dodging the draft, even though the work the boys did was hard, dangerous and vital.

Between December 1943 and March 1948, 48,000 Bevin Boys were sent to work in the mines.

One of them was Eddie Greenfield, who was born in Surrey in 1925. He trained as an RAF gunner at the start of the war, but was sent back to his family firm in the wood trade, helping to build boats.

However, he was conscripted in 1943, had his number drawn out and so spent his war years in the mines of Ferryhill, principally Mainsforth and the Dean and Chapter.

The Ferryhill Bevin Boys lived in Nissen huts on farmland, although a lucky few were able to find lodgings in the village.

Eddie didn’t say much about his war service, and so his son, Keith, has sent these pictures to the Ferryhill society in the hope of putting names to faces.

A couple of pictures feature in the society’s new calendar, which also has plenty of other images of the area. It is still only £3, and is available from The Eldon Arms, Wensley Terrace Local Store, Mainsforth News and Colin’s Chippy, all in Ferryhill Station, and from Kelly’s Newsagents, The Ladder Centre, Broom Cottages News, Ferrydec, Card Fayre and Lily C’s in Ferryhill, and from Thinford Nursery.