大象传媒

This story was added to the People's War Site by a volunteer from 大象传媒 Newcastle on behalf of Winifred Swain. Winifred Swain fully understands the site's terms and conditions and the story has been added to the site with her permission.

"I came from Dagenham, Essex, and I attended the Ford Endowed School. In 1940 its pupils were evacuated to Ramsbury.

We were all marched to Heathway station to go by train to Paddington, and then onto Hungerford where we boarded and old bus that took us to Ramsbury school in Back Lane. It all seemed very strange going so far away from just our gas mask, little havesack and label pinned to our clothing giving name and address. As we got off the bus some local children sitting on the school wall shouted "Cockney Kids!" which made us feel very unwelcome.

I was ten-and-a-half yeaers old and in charge of my younger brother Lenny, who was just 7. Unfortunately when we were allcoated billets we were split up! I was taken, together with my friend Betty Parker, to number 2 High Street owned by Mrs Boyce. However, Lenny and Betty's brother went to stay with a Miss Russell, a very old lady.

It seemed very strange being away from my brother and I wondered when I would see him again. He did not seem happy living with Miss Russell. I think she was too old to cope with two young boys. After a while, Lenny was found a new place to stay with a Miss Aldous and her father who lived at "The Kewleys", a thatched cottage in Crowood Lane.

The only heating we had in our house were fires in the kitchen and dining room. Our bedroom was very cold and our clothes always felt damp. For a treat we would sometimes eat in the British Restauraunt in Back Lane were you could get toast for 2d!

By the middle of 1943, after three years in Ramsbury, my mother decided it would be safe for us to return to Dagenham, even though the war was still on.

I returned home in late 1942 and resumed my education at the Park Senior School, Dagenham. During this time my friend Doris Evans and her family were killed by a Doodlebug.

After leaving school aged 14 in 1943, I went to work in London at London Midland and Scottish Goods Department, until the end of the war.

During the whole war period my Father, Charles Davis, worked as a Motor Setter, serving in the ARP and Home Guard. He worked twleve hours a day, seven days a week throughout the blitz, at times not being able to return home for days at a time"

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