大象传媒

In September 1939 at the age 0f eight my mother, brothers, sisters and myself (eight children in total) were evacuated to woodbridge near ipswich in suffolk.
My mother was not happy about leaving our home and after three days she took the younger children back home to essex, leaving harold and denis, barbara and me (ruth) in our respective billets.
My brothers were in a house a few streets away from barbara and myself. Barbra and I were billeted with a married couple and on arriving were put straight to bed and were told we would not have anything to eat until the next morning-we were very hungry by this time but were to frightened to protest.
Next morning we were given a bowl of bovril with a piece of bread. I said I couldn't drink mine because it was too salty. I was not given anything else to eat.On arriving home from school, Barbara was given tea (I can't remember what it was). The bowl of bovril (cold) was put in front of me and i was told it would be placed before me every mealtime until I had finished it. I was so hungry by then and missing my mother very much and managed to finish the bovril which, by then, was very cold and the bread soggy as the lady had put it in the bowl with the bovril.This was the pattern of things to come.
The "man" of the house was not at all pleasant and for the least little thing did not treat me at all well. I was very timid whilst Barbara was more outgoing-which he seemed to like.
The List of things he did to me were:
1/ Tied me to a sideboard all night and i was left downstairs in the dark.
2/ When cutting my nails he would push the skin down until my fingers bled.To this day I cannot bear to have my nails touched.
3/ He had a yappy dog that he used to lock me in the bathroom with and I remember climbing up on to the sink to get out of his way as it would try and nip my legs.
4/ Further up the road a family had a three legged dog and to an eight year old child this seemed a weird sight as it hopped along. Knowing this worried me when i saw it,the "man" of the house used to push me outside of their front gate and laugh when the dog neared me and i begged him to let me back into the house.
5/ Later he tied me to a post at the bottom of the garden and forced my sister and brothers to throw snowballs at me - I was only dressed in a thin dress and felt very cold.
Barbara, who was a lot more fiery than me told the "man" that when our father came to see us (he was on leave from the army) she was going to tell him what was happening to me. His reply to that was "if you tell your father anything your sister will suffer more because as there is a war on you will not be allowed to leave here" Naturally, she did not dare tell our father for fear of what would happen to me.
Eventually the lady of the house became ill and we were sent to live with her parents.They belonged to the salvation army and were very kind to us. We felt so much happier there that one night in bed I said to Barbara I hope the lady never gets better so that we can stay here until the end of the war.
Soon afterwards we were sent to Maesteg in South-wales- and that was the other side of the coin.

On arrival in Wales Barbara and myself were billeted with Mr and Mrs Preece (who we later called Nana and Uncle) in Maesteg. Harold and denis were sent to Mr and Mrs Boyse who were not far away so we saw a lot of each other.
Mr and Mrs Preece were so kind to us and we felt like two little princesses as`everyone in the street welcomed us with open arms.
Mr and Mrs preeces' daughter and son in law came to visit most days bringing their son who was only eighteen months old and we loved him like a baby brother.
We were with Mr and Mrs Preece for about three years. At the age of eleven I passed the scholarship and was evacuated to Finnemore Woods near Marlow and remained there until I was fourteen.
My time in Maesteg was so happy that when I was married in 1951 my husband John and myself spent our honeymoon there and later we took our two children back to Wales to see Mr and Mrs Preeces' daughter and husband.
The good times have always remained with me and I shall always be grateful for the love and care I received from Nana and Uncle and all our other friends in wales.

As for my time in Woodbridge, this has left a lot of bad memories of a very sadistic man, I think his name was Leslie but i can't remember anything else- I just wanted to blot him out of my mind. To this day though I have fear of dogs and go cold if one approaches me when I am out.
I have always wanted to put this down in writing and I often wonder how many other children had been ill-treated by their carers.
Nevertheless I am glad that I can also remember the kindness I received in wales as it helps to eradicate the bad times and shows people "Both sides of the coin"

Mrs Ruth Day (nee Howsam)
25 Helen road
Hornchurch
Essex
RM11 2EW

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