大象传媒

Even before war was declared, I was a member of the local Civil Defence Force in my home town. We would practice evacuation, first aid and how to deal with incendary bombs. When war broke out I was sent to Warden鈥檚 Post No 3 off Lord St and we patroled that area ensuring the blackout was observed and we would visit every house in our section and check their gas masks. We were given a bucket of sand and a scoop to tackle any incendary bombs which we may come across. Another duty which we were not prepared for
was looking after evacuees that came from London and towns nearby.

On television, the impression is given in old footage, that children would be herded together on railway stations, with tearful mothers waving them off, this was not the case in my experience. Surprisingly, whole families with mothers who were heavily pregnant, would come off the train onto waiting buses. The number of pregnant mothers who arrived in Redcar on the North East Coast, at one time was seven.

On arrival, most were given a meal and bedded down for the night, to await allocation to lodgings next morning. On one occasion, I was on early morning rota, to provide breakfast for the families staying at our centre. This would be six or seven in the morning. When we organised a roll call, we found half the children missing. We were frantic with worry, as were those mothers who were with them. Later a policeman called to say, he had seen loads of unfamiliar faces, racing across the sands, on the beach and running in and out of the waves. The children, much to our relief came back, non-the worse for their adventure, having seen the sea for the first time.

The Borough Council issued a statement, encouraging householders to take in children and families if possible but it wasn鈥檛 compulsory at the moment but they do have the powers, if they wish, to allocate children to certain households. Below is what the householder would receive in way of monies in order to keep these people in their homes-

Billeting of Evacuees

The Borough Council has received urgent information, that they have to be prepared to receive and provide billets, for 1000 evacuees from London and the Southern Counties. The Council is not desirous if it can be avoided, of using compulsory billeting powers but it must be appreciated, that unless sufficient voluntary offers of assistance are obtained, they will have no choice but to use compulsory powers. We therefore appeal to all householders who can possibly do so, to offer to take in evacuees. The classes of persons who are likely to come are-

(a)Unaccompanied Children.
(b)Mothers with children under school age.
(c)Expectant Mothers suitable for billeting ie those not within six weeks of confinement.
(d)Mothers with children of school age.

The Billeting Allowance is as follows-

(1) For Adults 5/-(25p) per week each.
(2) For children under 14 accompanied by an adult- 3/-(15p) per week each.
(3) For unaccompanied children-

Under 5- 10/6d(52p) per week.
5 years and under 10 - 11/6d(55p) per week.
10 years and under 12 -12/0d(60p) per week.
12 years and under 14 - 13/0d(65p) per week.
14 years and under 16 -14/0d(70p) per week.
16 years ---------------- 16/6d(75p) per week.
17years and over------- 17/6d(80p) per week.

Please note-In the case of (1) and (2) the householder is expected to provide Lodgings only, with facilities for cooking, washing and the use of a lavatory.
For unaccompanied children the householder is to provide board and lodge.
If the householder has accommodation but no beds or bedding, the local authority
will endeavour to provide these if possible.

Written with the help and cooperation of Mrs Vera Robinson MBE by Ged Fleming, Cleveland CSV (Story Gatherer)

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