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A Hard Life on the Farm

Our family were evacuated in July 1940 to Reveling Farm Newbiggin-in-Teasdale. There were four of us, I was the eldest, then my two brothers
Jim and Fred and Mary who was the youngest at 5 years old.
We were taken by train from Dunston to Barnard Castle then by bus to the farm. Mother had insisted we weren’t to be parted , but at first we girls were in the house and the boys in an attached cottage.
I had a frightening experience on my first day.The lavatory was in the farmyard. It was a wooden affair, with a hole for a seat-that was strange enough to a 10 year old, but when I opened the door to come out the farmyard was full of cows. They looked massive to me as I had only seen them in fields and at a distance. I stayed put until all the milking was over and the farmyard was clear.
We all had to help with the work on the farm, before and after school, and it was hard work, especially for the younger children and as the eldest I had to be ‘mother’ to them. The farmer’s family were also very strict with us . After tea we were sat on a sconce (a hard backed wooden bench) and we had to sit silently until it was time for bed.
We did have lots of fun when the snow came though.!!
At school there was one big classroom for all the children- juniors and seniors’ with one teacher while the infants did have a small room and a teacher too.
Our parents visited once a month, but at Christmas we were to take part in the school pantomime so Mother came and stayed in the village. Mary the littlest was taken to stay with Mother and she told her all the stories of how hard things were at the farm for us children. Mam returned as soon as she could to bring her family home.
We were there for 2 ½ years and bombs were still dropping when we got home, but the family were all together.

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