A wartime re-enactment in Haworth is to celebrate the work of the ‘British Oskar Schindler’.

The celebration is to mark the achievement of Sir Nicholas Winton in rescuing 669 children from almost certain death in the Second World War.

He managed to get the youngsters out of Prague and into the UK before hostilities broke out in 1939.

And he kept his work secret for more than 40 years until his wife discovered a series of letters at his home.

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is to stage re-enactments of the rescue of the youngsters along the line and in Stanbury, Keighley and Haworth on Sunday, May 16 – three days before Sir Nicholas’s 101st birthday – as part of the village’s 1940s Weekend celebrations.

It is hoped that among the crowds will be two special guests – Lady Milena Grenfell Baines and her friend Utta Klein – two of those who managed to find sanctuary in Britain thanks to his work.

Overseeing the event is K&WV line member Andy Kissack, of Haworth, who said: “I wrote to Lady Milena, who lives in Preston, and she said she would be interested in attending and hoped to bring along her friend and fellow evacuee Utta Klein.

“I’m hoping that they’ll be able to take part in the re-enactment at some stage. It will be fantastic for the children, who are acting as evacuees, to meet them both and talk about what it was like.

“I think what Sir Nicholas did was tremendous. He is a national hero – a modest man who did such an astonishing thing. He demonstrates some of the best virtues in a human being.”

The re-enactment will show the ‘Winton children’ leaving their parents and travelling from Prague to London.

They will leave Stanbury school on a vintage bus supplied by the Aire Valley Transport Group, and travel to Keighley station. A steam engine will then leave for Haworth, to be met by ‘foster parents’.

Mr Kissack said they would then travel by bus down Haworth Main Street and walk back up for a traditional street tea party.

Graham Swinbourne, head teacher at Stanbury school, will play Sir Nicholas, with his pupils taking on the roles of the evacuees.