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This story was added to the website by CSV volunteer Ann Toomey, on behalf of the author Pat Lane, who understands the site's terms and conditions.

When I was about ll years old I was evacuated from Ealing to stay with my two aunts in Weston — my family thought it best for me to be evacuated to a relative. I was there for the duration of the war.

My aunts were Miss Kate Chilten (Great Aunt) and Miss Alex Kingzett (Aunt).

One night I was called out of bed by Aunt Kate telling me to go and lie downstairs in the hall — it was supposed to be safer there.

Aunt Alex had meanwhile gone to the kitchen to get a bucket of water so that she could go outside and put out the fire caused by an incendiary bomb setting the garden fence alight.
All this was in the pitch dark — there were no lights allowed because of the blackout.

I had a sudden shock of my Aunt Alex falling over me with the freezing bucket of cold water — I don’t know who was more surprised but we had to laugh about it

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