大象传媒

I cannot recall the date but for it being in August 1944. My mother and I walked to my former school and with a number of others we boarded buses which took us the 12 miles from West Wickham, Kent to Euston Station in London. Here we boarded a steam-hauled train. This itself was exciting as in my home area the train services were provided by "Southern Electric" so we never had any steam locomotives going through our local railway station.

We had no idea where we were being taken until after we had got underway then we were told that it was St. Helens, I remember being told this in such a way that I would have been expected to know where it is. I responded as if I did when in reality I did not have a clue !

I cannot be sure when we departed London or when we arrived at St Helens but I would think that our arrival would have been about 4pm. We then boarded buses and were taken to Grange Park School at Thatto Heath which was being used as a Rest Centre. I later found out that the man who organised the boys for a game of Rounders was the Gym Master at the school. I do not recall his name but I remember that he was a very likeable guy.
After we had been 'fed and watered' we remained at the school to sleep for one night and the following day we were taken to an address in Prescot Road.

We later learnt that a crowd of people were in the station yard wanting to take in the evacuees but they were turned away as our accommodation had already been arranged. It seems likely that this has been done by people going around the district to find those who had spare rooms and whether they liked it or not they were bound by law to take in evacuees.

Our host, whose name I feel should be excluded, clearly did not want us. My mother was confined to the kitchen, she had to make our beds before we came down in the morning and we were not allowed under any circumstances to go back to the bedroom until bedtime.
Our host employed a housekeeper, Kathleen Roberts. She was a truly lovely Irish lady who had married a local boy named Hugh. They had no children. Kathleen was so disgusted at the way her employer treated us that she gave in her notice. I will always remember our Host blaming my mother for this action but my mother could stand up for herself and she replied that she was sure that Kathleen had the ability to make her own decisions without any encouragement from us.
Our host would not allow us to receive any friends had we made any and as my mother was handicapped and only able to get out when I was home from school, life must have been rather lonely for her. There were some exceptions as whilst she was still employed there Kathleen would sometimes take my mother to her home and I would meet her at Kathleen's after school.
My mother had often asked the Billeting Officers to accommodate us elsewhere. They kept saying that they were trying to find somewhere for us but the request was clearly falling on deaf ears. When my mother realised this she one day added "...or my son and I will go back home". Within hours a car arrived for us and we were moved to 171, Nutgrove Road.
The house in Prescot Road was a double fronted detached house with a garage to the rear and probably built shortly before the war. It had at least three bedrooms, perhaps four. I suspect that the ground floor would have consisted of separate dining room and lounge but these places would have been 'out of bounds' to us, in fact the ONLY times we were allowed to use the front door was when we first arrived and when we finally left. The house in Nutgrove Road was a grey stone end of terrace two-up, two-down with a scullery added at the rear. Our host here was Louise Woods, her son Ernie who was 8 and her daughter Rita who was 4. Their father was away in the army on active service. Mrs. Woods gave up her front bedroom to my mother and I and joined her two children in the rear bedroom. We lived with them as part of the family and we experienced the true love and kindness so common among the folk of the north. I recall the day when my mother spoke about going out and she started making her way towards the back door. Mrs. Woods wouldn't hear of it, not only was she expected to use the front door but was provided with a key.

I found that two of my school friends, Harry Lacey and Dennis Croston, lived within a short distance of our address in Nutgrove Road and Mrs. Woods made it clear to me that I was welcome to take any of my friends to her house. What a contrast between Mrs. Misery in Prescot Road and Mrs. Woods in Nutgrove Road.

As a result of my experience in St. Helens and with the folk who are genuine Lancastrians I have always had a great love and soft spot for them. I am still grateful to them for what they did for us evacuees when we were in a situation which we could not control.
I often wonder how Ernie, Rita, Harry and Dennis have fared during the last sixty years since we last met. If they should read this they could say that the guy they knew had a name beginning with H and they would be right but I stopped using that name many years ago and am known today as Sydney.
It was in March 1945 that my father came home on leave from the Royal Navy. He stayed at Kathleen's for a few days and then we travelled back to West Wickham as evacuation terminated for us and the war in Europe terminated for us all a few weeks later.

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