大象传媒

We were evacuated to South Wales. We carried a packed lunch, suitcase, and gas mask and had a luggage label with our name pinned on our coats. The journey took all day. When we arrived we were billeted with various households. The local people were very kind and spoke Welsh frequently.

We were appalled at the enormous slagheaps, which were the waste from the mines. They looked so gloomy and forbidding, although farther north the Brecon Beacons were lovely. I remember the miners singing - it was spontaneous. They loved their greyhounds, which were given the butter ration.

School was in Cyfartha Castle (the local grammar school). We went mornings one week and afternoons the next, sharing the facilities with the Welsh children. They worked very hard at their studies - they did not want to be miners. Sometimes we went to concerts of male voice choirs. On Sundays we went to chapel, where the services were held in Welsh.

I was ill and spent two months in hospital. Sister was in charge. She was a tiny little lady and the ward was run like clockwork. When it had been cleaned, dressings were done. The nurses vigorously scrubbed hands and arms between each patient. There were no antibiotics available. I used to cut and fold gauze dressings which were packed in stainless steel drums to be sterilised.

After some time I came home. The main road in Hawkinge bordered the airfield with some houses along it. It was very noisy and a dangerous place to live. The Germans were always bombing the airfield. One of the residents came and asked my mother if they could come in sleep in our house as we lived approximately two miles away. My mother re-organised the house to accommodate the family until they could find somewhere else to live.

V1 and later V2 rockets came over frequently towards the end of the war. All the time their engines were running one did not worry. When the sound stopped you knew they were coming down and you wondered where! Later the AA guns got their measure and shot them down to prevent them reaching London. The shrapnel was clattering down on the roofs of the buildings all around. Although our cows stood in the farmyard they were never injured.

The Young Farmers Club started in 1943 and meetings were held in Acrise School. It was lit by oil lamps and the windows were blacked out. We travelled by bicycle or walked and it was quite safe to do so. Petrol was rationed and very scarce.

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by BARBARA COLLINS-NEWING from 大象传媒 KENT on behalf of Mrs Evelyn Holt and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

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