Local historian EAST LANCASHIRE was invaded in the 1940s – by thousands of children escaping the horrors of the Second World War. The first few months of the conflict had been relatively quiet, but the Luftwaffe bombers began to wreak destruction on a massive scale. Manchester was being pounded and Darwen and other smaller towns were welcoming youngsters into their homes. Later in the war, as London was being hit by flying bombs, thousands more children were packed off to avoid the carnage. And many again pitched up in East Lancs. The Lancashire welcome for children plucked suddenly from their home lives and their little friends has been well documented. But what was it like for them?