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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Evacuees from the Shipyard Area of Tyneside

by newcastlecsv

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Archive List > Childhood and Evacuation

Contributed by听
newcastlecsv
People in story:听
Cornelius (Neil) Marshall (Age 7), Elizabeth (Betty) Marshall (Age 9-10)
Location of story:听
Walker, Newcastle Upon Tyne to Branch End, Stocksfield, Northumberland
Background to story:听
Civilian
Article ID:听
A4689101
Contributed on:听
03 August 2005

In September 1939 we were assembled at West Walker School. It was early morning and we were carrying our gas masks in cardboard boxes and very little else. All the children had labels on their coats with thier names and addresses written in ink. The whole school walked to Walker Railway Station. We were given a brown paper carrier bag containing food and a carton of milk, to be given to people who were taking in evacuees. My mother had insisted that my sister Betty and I were to be billeted together and not to be separated. My own feeling at that time was just sheer excitement of the occasion. The train took us to Stocksfield. We were split into groups of 10-12 children and taken by teachers or volunteers to various houses in the village, where the occupants were asked if they could take evacuees. My sister and I were housed with Mr Ridley, a miner who lived at No.4 with his daughter Ivy. They were lovely, caring people. We were given a bedroom upstairs with the most fantastic view over the Tyne Valley, a view which stayed with me for life. We were both very happy at No.4, but could only stay for a few weeks as Ivy was to be married soon after we arrived.

The houses willing to take any evacuees could only take one child. So my sister and I went to different homes. My very first night at my new billet was horrendous. I had to sleep in the middle of two brothers, one a little younger than myself and the other 3-4 years older. At some time during that night I was woken by the younger boy who was urinating up my back. I must have complained loudly as the boys' mother and father came into the room wanting to know what the noise was all about. The boys blamed me for wetting the bed. I remember saying to the boys' Mum, "How could it be my fault when the back of my vest is soaked?" It was not a happy house. Happily for me my mother came soon after to take me back to Newcastle, leaving my sister at a very nice family home in Stocksfield. She stayed there until she was old enough to start work at 14.

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