Evacuees from Birkenhead arriving in Newtown, Montgomeryshire

This image by the photographer Geoff Charles portrays the lives of the children that came to Wales as evacuees during the Second World War. During this time over a million children were moved from British cities so that they would be safer from the bombs and air raids. Over 200,000 of these children were sent to all parts of Wales. They often had to travel on trains and would leave their families with only a few personal belongings, a gas mask and an identity tag.

The National Library of Wales holds a valuable collection of 120,000 negatives of the photographer Geoff Charles. His photographs are priceless as they chronicle various aspects of life in Wales and the Borders. His work records far more than events and personalities; everyday life of ordinary people is also recorded and a vanished way of life is revealed in many of his photographs.