大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 Website by Pat Oakley from Crawley Library and has been added to the website on behalf of Sereta Tyas with her permission and she fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

In 1940 I was evacuated from London with my brother, his two friends and their two sisters. My mother had asked that we be kept together as we had never been away from home before and we didn鈥檛 know where we were going. I remember that it was a very long journey and we were all very scared. Eventually we were told to get off the train. We had arrived in Bath.

We were taken to a hall where there were piles of basic rations set out on long tables. We were given a carrier bag and told to pick up one of each item. Then a lady took us on a car journey to our billet. She knocked on the door several times but there was no reply. Then a neighbour came to the door, and when it was explained why we were there, she said the lady had died the week before. The billeting officer was very worried because it was getting late and everywhere was closed. The neighbour told us to wait while she spoke to her husband and when she came back she said she would take us until another place was found. We stayed there nearly a year but then it was felt that we should have separate rooms. As she had no other rooms we had to move to a new billet.

The next lady didn鈥檛 really want us and was very upset when my brother wet the bed. He was taken to a hospital because they did not know where else to put him. I was moved to a third billet and this time the lady was very kind and like a mother to me. She took me to see my brother in hospital and when we got there we were shocked. He was alone in a long ward and very unhappy so she said she would take him in too. We were very happy there, and stayed with her until the end of the war. We stayed good friends and frequently had holidays with each other .right up until the time she died.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.