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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a London CSV volunteer on behalf of Audrey Demer and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

With Mrs Taylor lived her daughter and small granddaughter, as well as Edna and myself. We both went to the little village school where I really enjoyed learning, and the time spent out of school we just wandered around. Mrs Taylor had a vicious temper that was directed at both Edna and me. The bed-wetting went on every night and one morning in a fit of rage she dragged me into the backyard naked. She then smashed the ice in the water butt and threw it over me. The ice was like shards of glass cutting me. Poor Edna stood there motionless waiting for her turn, but a neighbour banged on her bedroom window so Mrs Taylor dragged me inside the scullery, knocking me onto the flagstone floor. The blood was pouring from my head and I still have the scar 60 years on. We were desperately unhappy and all our letters to our parents were monitored, so we both wrote how happy we were (ha ha). One day we found some brown paper and string and Edna tried to parcel me up to send home. The foolish ideas of little children.

Another time whilst wandering about Edna caught the hem of her dress in her shoe, ripping it. We were terrified and proceeded to rip off the whole hem in the hope it wouldn’t be noticed, when going back to the house and asked about the dress being torn we were too afraid to say, although it was an accident. Mrs Taylor got some holly that was in the house for Christmas and kept hitting us on our arms and legs with it for a long time. Poor Edna got the worst of it that time and the blood was running down her arms and legs (merry Christmas).

During our stay I was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I had a kidney infection and was in a lot of pain. Our parents were notified and Mummy and Mildred managed to get from London to Bletchington. Mrs Taylor would not let them in and also refused to let them know which hospital I was in, so they had to go back to the Billeting Officer to find out. I wonder if these people were ‘all the ticket’, but then many took in evacuees to get the money. It was marvellous in the hospital with the nurses making a great fuss of me, apart from missing Edna I wanted to stay there. Of course I could not stay, so back I went to the dirt and the beatings.

Chapter 2: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a5706001
Chapter 4: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a5706137

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