The first casualty of war might be truth. But the worst casualty of war is probably childhood.

Refugees are once again in the news and Britain has announced it will accept Kosovans fleeing from the strife-torn Balkans.

They are not the first to seek refuge here and sadly won't be the last. But does anybody remember the 100 or more children who came to Yorkshire just over 60 years ago, escaping another political thug?

In 1937 the Spanish Civil War was raging and among the targets for Francisco Franco's fascist troops were the Basques of Northern Spain.

They were an old race who had been living around the Pyrenees for over a thousand years and had given the great Charlemagne a bloody nose at the battle of Roncesvalles in the year 778, killing the renowned leader Roland.

They had been allowed to keep their old system of government under the kingdom of Castille but lost many of the their rights in the 1800s.

The new Spanish Republic, elected in 1931, restored these rights, and when Franco's fascists declared war on the democratically-elected government, the Basques sided with the republic. They were on the losing side and were mercilessly bombed into submission. And in 1937 many of them found themselves in ... Keighley.

The old Morton Banks Sanatorium at Riddlesden became a refugee camp and 100 children were taken into local hearts and local homes. Others lived in the old Dr Barnardo's Home in Manningham and not long after they arrived they were welcomed into the T&A's Nignog Club for youngsters.

Nine-year-old Basque twins Araceli and Alicia Morales were actually adopted by members and the club took financial responsibility for the pair while they were in Bradford. There were tea parties, bonfires and presents for the children - and one scare.

The Second Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment visited the city and as they passed along Manningham Lane with anti-tank guns in tow, they alarmed some of the children, who tried to take cover.

It took a little time to explain to them that they were safe in a place where the army did not, usually, turn its guns on the citizens.

Life got about as normal as it could. The camp chef at Riddlesden, Luis Bersaluce, married one of the assistant cooks, Maria Allende, at Devonshire Street Congregational Church in Keighley. The Rev J Nicholson Balmer, secretary of the local Spanish Relief Committee, performed the ceremony.

Dr Cocker, of Bingley, became honorary Medical Officer for the camp, and Mr Sutcliffe Ramsden, of Keighley, became the camp dentist.

A Scottish firm provided boots free to the new Keighlians and the refugees staged fundraising concerts to help themselves. Eighty of the children performed in Morton Banks Methodist Sunday School and the Duchess of Atholl addressed a mass meeting in Keighley and the response across the country was warm.

Sadly there was a bigger and even nastier conflict just around the corner, to be started by Franco's little pal Adolf Hitler, and the story of the refugees was to be overtaken by the story of a world at war.

But if anybody knows what happened to our Basque guests, drop us a line and we will try to follow their joint fates.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.