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This story has been submitted to the People's war website by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Essex Action Desk on behalf on Betty Lawrence and has been added to the site with her permission and she understands the sites terms and conditions.

My brother and I, with the Marlborough Junior School, were queuing outside Sloane Square Station. We were being evacuated! Our mum was there looking rather worried, probably because nobody knew where we were going. Dad was on duty (he was a policeman) but he arrived just as we were on the move. We all piled onto the train and about an hour later we arrived at Chertsey. Outside the station there were buses which took us to Ottershaw. We were taken into the British Legion Hall where we were given a carrier bag with various goodies in; also labels were pinned to our coats. Gradually children were paired with various ladies but Ronnie noticed that his label was different from mine, so he made a fuss as he said that mum told him we must stay together. Fortunately a nice lady — Mrs Brazier — took both of us.

We enjoyed being in Ottershaw. I went to my first church fete and we went to Mr Brazier’s brother’s farm.

After three weeks we had to move as the school was too small for the extra children — back to Chertsey which we didn’t like.

Meanwhile, mum had made enquiries about the school Ron had passed the scholarship for, but found it was in the North. Ron didn’t want to go. After further enquiries she found the Chelsea Central school in Woking and Ron said he’d rather go there. Mum had to find us a billet, which she did, so once again we were on our travels.

The next year I passed the scholarship. Myself and several other girls went to live in a lovely house on a private estate and had a teacher until we were found a school that had room for us. We stayed for four years.

My dad used to cycle down to see us and mum came some Sundays. When the bombing in London wasn’t too bad we would go home for the week and sometimes when I needed new clothes I would meet mum and have lunch in the Strand Corner House then go shopping and she would see me off from Waterloo.

I was pleased when dad brought me a Claude Butler bike down on the train. My friend and I explored the countryside. One day we cycled as far as Box Hill and when we were near the top a doodle bug came over and fell on Dorking. It was quite frightening.

We used to worry about our parents when we listened to the news about London being bombed, especially when a land mine fell on the corner by the police station. The war was horrible and now it doesn’t seem quite real. It was nice to be home but I liked Woking. We had a lovely party in the Police flats to celebrate the end of the war.

Betty Lawrence

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