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This story was submitted to the People’s War Site by Three Counties Action, on behalf of Edward May, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was born in 1935 and I lived with my Mum and older Sister in Benjonson Road, Stepney, East London. For those not familiar with London our house was quite close to the London Docks.
At the beginning of the Blitz this area was subject to regular bombing raids sometimes more than one per day.
If we were out and about when the sirens went we would find the nearest underground station and wait on the platform until the all-clear sounded. I can recall actually sleeping on the station platform with many other children.

When we were at home and the sirens went we would all go to the local shelter. On occasions when the raids were long ones, one or two of the women would sneak back to their homes, avoiding the Air Raid Wardens and Policemen, and make a large pot of tea for the shelter. I will always remember the teapot it was a blue chipped enamel one that seemed to belong to the shelter rather than any person.
On this particular occasion my Mum said she would go make the tea. Off she went and was soon back, and I can clearly remember her words ‘someone else will have to make the tea the house has gone’. That’s how in 1941 we became evacuees.

Being evacuated must have been a traumatic experience for my Mum, leaving her Mum, her sisters and brother behind, but to me it was like an adventure. When we arrived in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, I saw for the first time cows and horses in fields, trees as woods, corn fields growing, to me it was amazing but I must admit I missed my toys.

For the first few days we lived and slept in the Town Hall and each day we were bussed around the town looking for someone to offer to take us in, my Mum was adamant that we had to be together. Thankfully we were taken in by an elderly couple who lived in High Dane and that was the start of our new life in the country.

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