大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from CSV Solent on behalf of Patricia Walmsley and has been added to the site with her permission. Patricia Walmsley fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

When I joined Southampton Girls Grammar School at the age of fifteen, they had been evacuated to Bournemouth. After sharing alternate mornings and afternoons with the Bournemouth Girls School, a large building was found that had been vacated by Wentworth College. We were moved to this property so both schools could return to full-time education.

The position of this building on the cliff top at Southbourne was felt to be too much of a target for any plane coming in across the bay, so the College girls had been evacuated to Wales. We, on the other hand, were obviously expendable!

Two areas of the property were out of bounds, namely the roof and the woods at the end of the grounds, which overlooked the cliff top (now very expensive housing). On this particular day we were told we could go to either of these areas for a short time. From the woods, looking from the Isle of Wight to the east across to Poole Bay and beyond to the west, were hundreds of ships and vessels of various sorts. One had the impression that you could have jumped from one vessel to another all the way aross Bournemouth Bay.

The next day, 6th June 1944 - D-Day - not a single vessel to be seen.

On a happier note, our school had returned to Southampton as the war was coming towards its end. The usual Christmas Carol afternoon was held and we were joined by Italian prisoners-of-war who were working nearby.

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