大象传媒

Frankie ate his sandwiches, quickly gulped his milk down and went out onto the street slamming the door behind him. He walked down Hope Street to the corner, turning he headed for the Cathcart Street school about two hundred yards away he was joined by two of his classmates who were discussing the war with the Germans and saying that their older brothers were going into the army when the time came, not to be outdone Frankie answered, 鈥淢y uncle Bernie鈥檚 already in-he鈥檚 in the Lancashire Fusiliers.鈥�
They stopped outside a small sweetshop, noses glued to the window eyeing up the opened boxes of sweets on display which before long would be a thing of the past and rationed.
鈥淲ho鈥檚 going in first?鈥� asked Frankie 鈥淚鈥檝e got an hapenny to spare so I can get some liquorice bootlaces to share.鈥� Neither of the others had anything to spend as was the usual case not many had the chance to buy sweets or suchlike these days, Frankie popped into the shop whilst the other two waited outside. When he came out he offered each of the two a liquorice-lace, making their way to the school playground just in time to fall in the classroom row, the teacher calling for the stop of further horse-play, then announcing the left hand file to lead on into the hall for the daily prayers and hymn singing before going into their respective classes.
After the last prayer was said the headmistress announced that in their respective classes they would receive a pro-forma which they were to take home to give to their parents to be filled in and brought back before the week-end recess, and to be sure they did not loose them.
Finally in class the usual hub-bub of noise was quickly subdued by the appearance of class teacher who began to call the register alphabetically ticking each name off as it was called and answered by the pupil present when completed she closed the book and spoke to the class. 鈥淏efore we begin with the history lesson, you come back to me at 11:30 for English, I shall give you all a paper to take home with you, do not loose it, give it to your Mother or Father to read and fill in, bring the form back to me by Friday, get your history books out and turn to page 73 then we will begin.鈥�
The rest of the morning was filled with the school routine at the sound of the bell classes changed, playtime was rung and ended, then the final bell of the morning to announce lunch time break. As the pupils filed out of the class they were handed a formula by the teacher who reminded them again not to loose it, outside Frankie folded his up and put it in his pocket, making his way home.
Going indoors he handed the crushed note to his mother, 鈥淭he teacher give te me and ses youv gotta fill it in and give it back termorrer.鈥�
鈥淒id she now-and what if I don鈥檛 want to fill it in.鈥� his Mother answered. 鈥淒en we wont get evacuated-and we will have to stop here en get bombed.鈥� His Mother looked at him, in trepidation she had lain awake most of the night thinking of the intended evacuation and she wasn鈥檛 at all sure she wanted to go through with it, it would be the first time she would be separated from her husband and she had her doubts about it all.
After the tea meal was finished Dorothy gave Francis the screwed up piece of paper Frankie had brought home, 鈥測our son brought that home from school today, it has to be filled in and returned by Friday.鈥�
Francis smoothed the paper out on the table moving some of the dishes to do so, then he began to read the instructions carefully. Satisfied he asked his son to get him the ink and his fountain pen from the drawer in the cupboard and then began the task of filling in the form. When he鈥檇 finished he asked for an envelope, placing the form in it, sealing it he spoke to his wife 鈥淪ee that, Frank takes this with him when he goes to school-I will have to go up my Mother鈥檚 tomorrow to borrow a suitcase so you can put some change of clothes in to take with you-it鈥檚 possible that you may have to leave as soon as they have made all the arrangements to evacuate all of the children.鈥�
At school the next day, the teachers collected all the returned forms, class by class they were sorted out, those who were to be evacuated into one pile, those who were to stay behind in another pile. During the staff break, the list of children were then broken down into the different age groups, making it easier to ensure that children could be formed into a class so they could fit in with the Welsh children and have an appointed teacher to accompany them.
It was almost a week later, when the parents were summoned to attend the school on the Saturday morning for instructions for their move and what it would entail. They were handed labels on which their names and addresses were to be written, with birth dates, religion, next of kin etc, and brought with them when they reported to the school. They also had to bring with them their suitcases containing their personal clothing, gas-masks, identity cards and the newly issues ration books.
They were also informed as to their point of destination, it was to be a small country town called Corwen in Merionethshire, once there, they would be taken by bus from the station to the school where they would be allocated to a Welsh family who had been vetted as volunteers, to accommodate them within the area around the town.
To Frankie, the time seemed to drag. But to his Mother it was as if it was the next day when she received instructions that on the morrow, they would report to school at 10am, with their baggage and their documents. In the school they would embus as to the travelling roll and be taken to Woodside station, there they would be put onto a train that would leave at 11:30, they were also advised to take sandwiches and refreshments with them in case of delays and told that they would not be permitted to leave the train until they arrived at their destination. They were told that there would be stops made at Chester, Wrexham, Corwen and Bala. At Chester, three of the carriages would be diverted to a South-Wales desination filled with children from Liverpool.
At 21 Hope Street, Dorothy was miserable and near to tears. On the other hand Frankie was in his seventh heaven, away fro his heavy handed Father, now he would be able to play in the open, he hoped that he would find some friends there and that they would play with him.
Several days later, the teachers gave out to the children who were on the evacuation list, a letter to take home and give to their parents, it contained all of the information appertaining to the movements on the day concerned, and contained a list of what they were expected to take with them, including gas-masks, toilet requisites, ration books, and identity cards with sufficient money to tide them over for a period of days. Buses would leave the school promptly at 10am, depositing them10 minutes later at Woodside station, they would be met there by school authorities who would introduce them to their guides and accompanying teachers for the journey.
The morning of the eventful day finally dawned, Dorothy had woken and risen with her husband Frank, who had to start work at the shipyard at 6am. She washed and dressed the two children after kissing her husband hard and long when he left on his bike. Drying her tears she told Frankie to put his boots on and tie them up, she sat at the table and poured herself a cup of tea and buttered some toast for Frankie and made packet of sandwiches to take with her for eating on the train. She also packed a thermos flask that frank had brought for her from his mothers when he went to borrow a suitcase to put their change of clothing in and inside she put a large bottle of lemonade for the children to drink.
Crossing Cathcart Street, she could see that there was already quite a crowd of women and children waiting at the school gates, outside stood a couple of teachers diligently ticking off the children鈥檚 names, telling them to which group they should go and join.
Eventually, three of the double deck blue buses from the Birkenhead Corporation drew up at the gates and the teachers began to marshal the groups slowly onto the buses, those with small children were placed on the bottom deck, the others onto the top deck, suitcases were loaded onto accompanying lorry from the corporation, satisfied when the list鈥檚 were complete the order was given to move off. The buses slowly pulled away to cheers of the many people who had come to see their friends off, reaching the end of Cathcart Street, the buses turned left into Conway Street.

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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