大象传媒

In 1946 I was conscripted into the Army and stationed in Catterick, Yorkshire. It was a fierce winter and at one stage we were obliged to clear the roads in the Swale valley. I passed through Grinton at approximately 7.30 a.m. each morning in an army truck but did not see anyone and of course I could not stop.

In 1949 I decided to visit Mr. and Mrs. Holland again. Mr. Holland was now a gamekeeper and they had moved into a house nearby to their previous home. I got a very warm welcome and met their two small daughters for the first time. Since then my family and I have visited them in Wensleydale, Derbyshire and Kendal (when they retired). They have since died but we now visit their children in Kendal. In fact we all have lunch sometimes in the Bridge Hotel in Grinton. After the war a wall in the house I lived in was incorporated into the hotel and their children are keen to know how it looked when their parents lived there. On one occasion after lunch we decided to walk the mile to the school. We discovered it had been altered into a residence. We were discussing the location of the schoolyard, etc. when the owner of house came out. She had heard us and invited us all in to see the alterations which had been made to the premises. The house was welcoming and cosy and the hallway had been left as it was 鈥� even to the low-level peg rack where the small children hung their clothes.

The most nostalgic visit was when I return to the Village church which is situated opposite the Bridge Hotel. It evoked so many memories. It is a beautiful building and is steeped in history. Even the smell took me back to days when I attended. The vicar has a Visitor鈥檚 book which I was happy to sign, stated that I was an evacuee and giving the dates. Who knows 鈥� maybe some other ex-evacuee might recognise the name. I know of at least one boy who returned to Grinton, was adopted by his former 鈥榝oster parents鈥� and eventually inherited the farm and family business.
For myself, in later life I was still involved with farm animals 鈥� as a butcher. Then I owned an 鈥淎rmy Surplus Stores鈥�, selling ex-army gear and camping equipment to hikers and holiday-makers visiting the Swale valley for 鈥渁 breath of fresh air鈥�. But that鈥檚 another story鈥︹�︹�︹��

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