SCHOOLBOYS now in their seventies, who dug for victory during wartime, are on the receiving end of an Anglo-American call for a reunion.

There is a move afoot to unearth their days at the old Bangor Street Boys' Secondary Modern, Blackburn, from 1940 to 1943.

Already teamed up and sold on the idea are long-ago classmates, would-be organiser Les Shaw, Jimmy Bond, Jack Frankland and Ken Brooks, of Wilmington, in North Carolina, who is ready to hop over the Atlantic if more of the lads from Forms 1A, 2A and 3A of all that time ago sign up for a get-together in the winter.

Other names they recall from that era at Bangor Street are Blackburn Rovers' tycoon owner Jack Walker, whose funeral was last week, and Duggie Payne, Rishton CC's record-breaking wicket-keeper in the 1950s.

But one of the unusual memories they have of their school days is of 'science' lessons in which they turned a farmer's field at the top of nearby Troy Street into a plot where they grew vegetables as part of Britain's home-front 'Dig For Victory' campaign to supplement rationed wartime food supplies.

"Our science teacher, Tommy Fairclough, was in charge of this and most of our science classes from then on consisted of us 30-odd lads grabbing an assortment of rakes, hoes and spades and heading for the large plot," recalls retired engineering company chief Ken.

"It was very often muddy and we only had our regular school shoes, or clogs in my case, so we were often pretty 'slutched up' when we got home."

"Although we grew most kinds of vegetables, the two I mainly remember were potatoes and swedes.

"Mr Fairclough had an old weigh-scale and would sell the produce to us for very low prices. If you bought 10lb of potatoes, about half the weight would probably be sticky black earth! "I think the proceeds went to purchase the seeds, fertilisers and so forth."

He adds: "The swedes were exceptional. Mr Fairclough really knew how to grow them. Wartime rationing was very strict and we 12 and 13-year-old boys were always hungry even though we had excellent school dinners.

"So, even though the swedes were unwashed, a lot of the lads couldn't resist nibbling on them and by the time they got them home, some were half-eaten. A lot of the potatoes and carrots didn't make it home either."

But, says Ken, not on ration at the proposed reunion will be lots more reminiscences. Interested? Contact his pal Les at 18 Willow Trees Drive, Lammack, Blackburn BB1 8LB (Tel. 01254-698886).