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Wartime memories of an evacuated school teacher Part One 鈥� From Islington to Bedford

Part one of an oral history interview with Mrs. Gwenllian Ruth Clarke (n茅e Parris) conducted by Jenny Ford on behalf of Bedford Museum.

鈥淚 was born in Islington on 23rd August 1914. One thing that might be interesting when I was still at College, that was between 1931 and 1935, that鈥檚 right, we were being trained to use apparatus to put out fires and being taught how to go through smoke filled rooms. So there was obviously a lot being done behind the scenes towards the wartime efforts. I was at West Hampstead Teaching Training College for teachers of Domestic Subjects. We were actually - a government team came in and we were taught to use stirrup pumps and what to do if a bomb fell. Mind you to us in those days, we were 18 or 19, it was a bit of a lark sort of thing, we couldn鈥檛 see what it was all about but it was a bit of fun anyway. But of course later on we began to realise what had been brewing behind the scenes in the minds of the powers that be.

I think it must have been 1937 and I was over in Budapest and going through Germany in those days and there was quite an atmosphere. You had to be very careful! Because we were in, oh I forget which city now, and it was Hitler鈥檚 birthday and all the shops had busts of Hitler all adorned and one of our young people, well we were all young and sort of skittish, she laughed very loudly and said, 鈥極h, look at that!鈥� And they were all, the Germans, whoever, were saying 鈥榮ssccchhh, sssccchhh鈥� you mustn鈥檛. You know it was all very tense even in those days.

In 1939 I was over in Jersey, I鈥檇 spent a month in Jersey and it was from there that we were recalled to come back to the school - ready, well we weren鈥檛 told we were going to be evacuated - we were just told we鈥檇 got to report back. It was impossible to get back any sooner short of hiring a private plane which would have been out of the question. You had to wait for your berth on the ship that you鈥檇 book because the whole island was packed with holiday makers and a great many of them were being called home so it was impossible on board any of the Channel steamers unless you鈥檇 already booked. Well of course we were very young and foolish probably and full of life and we didn鈥檛 really see what was coming or perhaps we didn鈥檛 want to. We weren鈥檛 all full of tension about it.

Yes, I think it was two days before war broke out. Yes, two days before war broke out we came. I know we were here in Bedford when the declaration of war was declared. I鈥檇 never left home until then. I鈥檇 always lived at home. They were used to me going off on the Continent on holiday as I鈥檇 been over to Budapest and all round Germany and Italy. Mind you it was considered a bit adventurous in those days. People used to think where is she off to next? It wasn鈥檛 general. Well, of course I was earning a little more than most of my contemporaries at the time, the people I鈥檇 been to school with. Because in those days we were told, if they offer you more than a 拢1 0s 0d a week look at it very carefully because there may be no future in it. But being a teacher, mind you I was 21 when I came out of College and I earned 拢3 15s 0d a week, they earn more than that an hour now! But that was a good wage, I could do quite a lot on that.

We were at the school at 6 o鈥檆lock in the morning and all the mothers were bringing the children to you. It was very fraught, very fraught. Mind you some of them, it was a very mixed sort of area, some of them were in tears and making a lot of fuss and others were saying, oh, well somebody will look after them, I鈥檒l be rid of them for a day or two, sort of thing. But how much of it was bravado, I don鈥檛 know. I mean quite a lot of it I should think was bravado. But especially the mothers of the little ones, I don鈥檛 think now since I鈥檝e had children of my mine I don鈥檛 think I could have done it, I really couldn鈥檛! I mean but then I was footloose and fancy free - come on children! I can鈥檛 remember any of my little ones being disorderly not even wanting to go to the toilet! I don鈥檛 know how they managed because it was quite a long journey.

As I say when we were recalled to the school for 6 o鈥檆lock in the morning and we were given our children to look after. I had six small children from about five to six year olds with their pillow cases round their neck with their bits and their gas masks. Do you know I don鈥檛 think I could have done it now when I鈥檝e had children of my own! I couldn鈥檛 have said to them, 鈥楥ome on, we are all going off on a holiday. Come along we鈥檒l get on the train.鈥� And they bussed us out to Mill Hill, we got on a bus to Mill Hill and there we went into the sidings, we didn鈥檛 go into the Station and we were all put on a train and we were told, well we weren鈥檛 told anything, we were just going! We didn鈥檛 know where we were going and eventually we arrived at Bedford. Now to me Bedford had just been a station I passed through on my way up to see my friend in Derbyshire. I鈥檇 never been to Bedford. I did perhaps know John Bunyan was born in Bedford but very little else.

But when we embarked on this great voyage it was a very, very fraught atmosphere. To start with we hadn鈥檛 had much preparation for it. I mean we鈥檇 only been given the night before more or less - tomorrow morning you will report at school ready to go. So there that was not a great deal 鈥� well probably behind the scenes there鈥檇 be a great deal, but the actual participants had it thrown on them so they hadn鈥檛 had a long time to dwell over it, probably just as well! I don鈥檛 know how many of the children returned.

All our school, the Star Cross School, the school was located in between Kings Cross and Baker Street, in the hinterland there. It wasn鈥檛 just our school there were several schools all came together. There were quite a lot of us! When we arrived in Bedford, you know that picture of us all marching up the High Street. We arrived at Midland Road Station, we came up Midland Road and then in the Cattle Market, that was the Cattle Market with the pens and all that in those days and we stood there for a while. Then we were taken in groups and we went into a tent and we were all given our little bag with our iron rations which I think was corned beef and some dried milk and one or two necessities. Then we were broken up into groups and we had to go out and sell our children more or less to find them homes. There was no previous arrangements seemed to have been made with anybody, Mrs. So and So will take this, that and the other. Perhaps because it was a larger town, it wasn鈥檛 a village or anything but we took a group of children along Ampthill Road. Oh, we went to Ampthill Road School, that was it. Our group went from the Cattle Market to Ampthill Road School and from there we trolled up Ampthill Road knocking on doors saying, 鈥榃ill you take a child or two children, please?鈥� And of course you ended up with the poor little dears at the end who were not too clean or too good looking for which we had to find homes for. Well we did find home for them all eventually but by that time it was quite late at night. It was getting dark anyway and our Head said, 鈥楲ook we must have a Staff Meeting, come back to the Station.鈥� So we all went back to the Station Waiting Room and we had a Staff Meeting and decided what was going to happen as far as we knew. And then she said, 鈥榃ell none of us have eaten since about breakfast time so we had better go and have a meal.鈥� And we went to the Rose and Crown in the High Street, that鈥檚 where we went and we had a meal and then we thought, it was now quite dark, we鈥檇 better break up. I walked out of the hotel and it was pitch black, blackout and it suddenly hit me, I鈥檇 been so busy finding homes for everybody else and I had bothered, I hadn鈥檛 got anywhere to go! I was homeless in a strange town. I knew two places Ampthill Road School and the Railway Station! Now, I thought, no the Railway Station doesn鈥檛 sound a very good place, Ampthill Road School. I found a Boy Scout, he happened out of the murk and I grabbed him and asked him to take to Ampthill Road School because I hadn鈥檛 a clue how to get there so he took me to Ampthill Road School. We found the Caretaker and I said, 鈥楶lease will you let me stay the night in the school? At least I鈥檒l have a roof over my head.鈥� And he was a very kind man and he said, 鈥極f course you can but I think I can do better than that, I鈥檒l find you some where to stay.鈥� So, he took me to Whitbread Avenue and there was a house that belonged to a Mrs. Turvey. Mrs. Turvey was a Policeman鈥檚 widow. She had two Policemen who resided with her but they were both off at Birmingham, was it only one, oh, Bill was out but one of them, my husband (to be) was up in Birmingham because he was doing his training. She said, 鈥榃ell while he鈥檚 away, while Tom鈥檚 away, you can come and stay with me.鈥� So, oh, great relief! I stayed there until war was declared.

Well on the night that war was declared I鈥檇 taken myself off to bed and suddenly I was aroused very rapidly and told, 鈥楲ook you鈥檒l have to get out, Tom鈥檚 coming home. They鈥檝e sent them all home so you鈥檒l have to sleep on the sofa downstairs鈥�. So I hopped out of bed, taken down to the sofa downstairs and he arrived sometime in the night. It was one of those houses where the key was through the door and you oiked the key out and opened the door, so I wouldn鈥檛 have known he鈥檇 have been coming in it was a good job I had some warning. Anyway, I stayed with Mrs. Turvey for most of the time I was evacuated. With having the two Policemen and there was also another Policeman鈥檚 daughter there because she couldn鈥檛 get in from Lavendon, she was a telephone operator. She couldn鈥檛 come in every day because there were no buses or anything. So I had to board across the way but I lived in the house. And I鈥檒l never forget the first time I met my husband - I鈥檇 walked all the way from Jubilee School where I was then teaching cookery and it poured with rain all the way home and I arrived dripping wet, absolutely. Water pouring off me and there was this being lying, not sitting in the chair but with his feet over one end and his body over the other and I stood there dripping. He didn鈥檛 even rise from the chair and I said to him, 鈥楳r. Clarke, I presume?鈥� And that was our introduction.

But the teaching in those days - when I first arrived I was given a football, a whistle and about 24 boys from about 10 to 11 years old and told to go and keep them amused in a field. That was about the second day we got here. I鈥檇 got no idea what I was going to do with 24 boys, a football and a whistle! But I managed to get them sorted out.

I also did a stint as a waitress in one of those caf茅s they used to run, British Restaurant. We all had to do our stint in the British Restaurant. I was about the worst waitress that ever could have been. I dropped things, my trays hit people! I think they must have been glad to get rid of me but then I eventually worked at Jubilee School teaching. We teachers seemed to get broken up, we didn鈥檛 keep as a school but we did have our London Inspectorate. The Inspectors from London and mine was Miss Laycock, that was it and when Miss Laycock was visiting your centre, you trembled! She was one of the - well you didn鈥檛 put a foot wrong, otherwise there was trouble with a capital 鈥楾鈥�! Strangely enough when we were away she fought every inch of the way for us, that 鈥榟er teachers鈥� weren鈥檛 going to be put on. And Mr. Hayes of course, he was the Chief Inspector and he would fight tooth and nail because there was quite a lot of rivalry between the Bedford teachers and the London teachers. Not personal rivalry but between the two sort of Authorities I suppose for resources but not only that London teachers got paid London Weighting! And we didn鈥檛 lose our London Weighting when we came here! They opened an account for us at National Westminster Bank and I鈥檝e still got my account there, I鈥檝e had it since 1939.

I got engaged to Tom but we couldn鈥檛 get married straight away because he had to do two years Probationary and in those days Police were not allowed to marry in their Probationary period so I had wait until then, but of course people knew. It got back to the Bedford Education Authority and they promptly went and hired another teacher to take my place! My Inspectorate came, Miss Laycock came and said, 鈥榃ell, you might have told me you were going to get married. You鈥檝e left me in rather a hole.鈥� I said, 鈥業鈥檓 not, I鈥檓 engaged yes but I can鈥檛 get married for at least another year.鈥� So she said, 鈥極h, if that鈥檚 the case then we鈥檒l have to see about this.鈥� In the end they had to find another job for the other girl they鈥檇 employed to take my place. But it was all part of life in those days we didn鈥檛 let it get us down you couldn鈥檛 you had to go on. I was teaching a class - well all of the classes were coming in turn. There were two teachers there, two domestic science teachers and as I say we just took the school, some of them were evacuees and some of them were local children. I was Miss Parris in those days.鈥�

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