大象传媒

In 1940 I was aged 8 and my parents decided it would be safer to send myself and my two brothers to Canada for evacuation. We went under the Children's Overseas Reception Scheme which had been started in July 1940.

We lived in Farham just outside Portsmouth. My Father had been in the Navy for some time, his ship had been sunk in Norway, and as a result of this and Dunkirk, they made the decision to send us abroad.

We were told not to tell anyone what was happening including our school. We were sent in August 1940, by train, to Liverpool. We were collected together by helpers with 10-12 Children per adult. We spent most of the day on a train, with a packed lunch. We eventually finished up at a station north of England.

We were then taken to a private Girls School, where we slept in a Gymnaisum. The following day we were travelled by Bus. When I got off, I saw a Ship, that seemed to be very high. It was called the Volledan.

We went inside and were allocated a cabin. As the boat sailed we were given lots of sweets and other foods. Three days later we had just gone to bed and I was in the top bunk and sometime during the night there was a great thump. The emergency lights turned on and alarms were ringing.

A lady came round to say we had to put our life jackets on and we were taken to the deck which was fully lit. We were then lined up along the Life Boats. There were four sailers per boat with lots of children. I remember there was lots of crying and screaming too although we thought it was a great adventure. There were 300 Children on the boat.

We later got picked up by another ship. We had to climb up some netting to get onboard!
We travelled to Clydeside, which took 24 hours.

We ended up at a Hostel in Scotland. My parents decided we would go on the next boat to Liverpool. Along the way stayed at the Fazakerely Childrens home where I remember a big rocking horse that I played on.

I had now caught Chicken Pox. My parents decided if they couldn't send us all, we should be sent home. My two brothers went home while I stayed in Hopsital. The next boat that we sailed on was called the City of Beneres which got Torpedoed on the 14th of September. Of the 90 Chidren on board, only six surrvived.

Two days later I was sent home, and was picked up by the Womens Voluluteer Service (WVS) and taken from Liverpool to Manchester where I then got taken to another train station and headed home.

You could say I saved my Brothers life! We never thought the War would kill us. It was just one big adventure for us.

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