This article below was published in our Newsletter No. 21 in October 1980. It seems that Turton adopted a French village called Jussey in the early 1920s under a scheme called the British League of Help for the Devastated Areas of France.
Those who attended the lecture on April 15th on 'Personalities of Bolton' by Mr. D. O'Connor may remember him mentioning two parties of local children who went to Jussey in Northern France in 1923 at the expense of Col. E.W. Greg of Eagley Mills. Mr. O'Connor has sent us a list of the boys who went in May 1923 :-
| James Locker | Belmont Council School |
| Harold Howes | Bradshaw School |
| Eric Spring | Eagley Mills School |
| Harry Kitchen | Harwood Wesleyan School |
| Thomas Hardy | Hob Lane School |
| Fred Welsh | Edgworth Wesleyan School |
| Fred James Dowle | Turton C. of E. School |
| John Warburton | Walmsley C.of E. School |
The party was conducted by Mr. Harry Bramwell of Walmsley School.
In August 1923 a party of girls was taken to France but unfortunately the newspaper did not give a list of their names although there is a good photograph of them in the Bolton Journal for August 17th on page 8, taken at the grave of Col. Greg's son in a cemetery near Jussey. The girls' party was led by a Miss Fairclough.
The Bolton Journal for February 8th 1924, page 9 contains a report of the prize-giving ceremony for an essay competition on the subject of Jussey and the winners were Nellie Gibbs of Bradshaw C. of E. School and James Locker of Belmont Council School.
Mr. O'Connor is interested to know if any of those who went to Jussey are still living in the area and if so he would like to contact them.
