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I was born and brought up in the small village of Mary Tavy near Tavistock
in Devon. When World War II started I joined the Women’s Voluntary Service
and ended up in charge of my area during the war. There were about 10 or 11
women in the WVS in my area and we were all very keen.

I think the worst experience of the war was visiting Plymouth shortly after
it had been bombed. We usually used to go to Plymouth to do our shopping but
when I went after the bombing the sight was extraordinary. The city centre
was absolutely flat - I could not believe it. I did not know where I was.
Yes, the Plymouth experience was no nice - very nasty.

It was funny because in Plymouth there was a large drum known as ‘Drake’s
Drum’ after Sir Francis Drake. The legend goes that if the drum is taken
away from Plymouth then something terrible would happen to the city. It was
strange but the day it was removed the city and the surrounding villages
suffered a really bad raid. Once the drum was put back there were no more
raids.

In the WVS we were in charge of the evacuees. They were all small children,
many heartbroken at being split from their families. A lot came from London
and we were careful where we placed them. Many went to live on local farms.
It was strange, but the youngest child usually stayed on the farm but the
eldest went back to London. In those days the Devon accent was very strong
and when their Mother returned the little boys could not understand them
anymore! The children knew nothing about the countryside. I remember one day
some little children saw a cow in a field, one of the girls wondered if it
was a bull, but a little boy cried out ‘No! bulls are black’.

The evacuees arrived in Plymouth by train. We tried to keep families
together if possible. Everyone was very kind to them and at the end of the
war many of the evacuees did not want to go back to London, in fact many did
stay on and settle in Devon.

After the bombing raids in Plymouth we (the WVS) had to take over some big
houses in Plymouth and try to help find homes for the many families who were
left homeless by the bombs. We also had to help clean up the city. I shall
never forget that - there were bodies everywhere. But everyone just got on
with it. We also helped with the transportation for the hospitals and we
helped the troops on a big army camp on nearby Dartmoor. In fact we had all
sorts of tasks to do. We organised a soup kitchen for the people in Plymouth
who were bombed out.

After the war ended I went back to working with horses on Dartmoor. I have
always enjoyed riding and really like horses. Before the war I ran a riding
school. I can’t really remember what happened when the war ended. We had tea
parties and dances, but I did not really like the dances. Looking after
animals meant I had no spare time. I stayed in Devon after war later moving
to Hawkchurch to be nearer my family.

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