大象传媒

Such excitement! It was the end of the school holidays but instead of going back to school, we felt we were starting a new adventure.

We stood on the railway platform in full school uniform, holding our cases and wearing the boxes that held our gasmasks, like shoulder bags. They were to go with us at all times. It was Friday September 1st 1939 and officially we were not at war.

We were told that the children from the big towns and cities were to go to safe places where they wouldn't be bombed by the enemy planes. If they were under five they could go with their mothers. I was thirteen so I went as a schoolgirl with my teachers.

If we thought it was an adventure our parents certainly didn't. They were worried to death because they had no idea who, if anyone, would be taking us into their homes. We didn't have phones in ordinary houses then so they had to be patient until they heard from us.

We were to go to Chester only thirty miles away. That's no big deal now, but then, when we didn't even know anyone who had a car (except my mad cousin Danny, who seemed to have built his own) it might as well have been China as Chester for all we knew about it.

It wasn't hard to pack all our things because we didn't have many clothes. We'd never heard of trainers or T shirts. We had the school uniform with a spare blouse or shirt, two sets of underwear and two pairs of pyjamas. The lucky ones had 'pumps', soft rubber soled sandals for P.E.

Because it was such a special occasion we all went on the tramcar to the station. That was two penny fares and two halfpenny fares. We usually walked into town. My dad took me on to a platform. I had a label put on my coat to say who I was and where I came from. My Mum had to take my brother to a different platform.

When we got to Chester we walked with our cases to the nearest Church hall and stood there while people who had offered to house us came along to look us over. If they liked the look of you they chose to take you. Sisters were paired with sisters and the rest of us were allowed to stand with a friend.

I'll never forget that first Sunday morning when we sat in our new billet listening to the Prime Minister on the wireless telling us that we were at war. It was eleven o'clock and we had just got back from church.

My friend Cynthia and I were very lucky. We were chosen by a lady and gentleman who had always wanted children but had never had any. They treated us really well and even took us to the pictures (cinema)every Saturday although it was forbidden for us to go out after dark.

The day before I went away my Mum had taken me to the hairdresser to have my very long hair cut, because she didn't think anyone else would brush it and look after it the way she did. The funny thing was that the lady I went to had been a hairdresser but although she had given up work, as women always did when they got married, she hadn't lost her touch. Every Friday night she gave us both a shampoo and set.

The girls from the Convent school that we moved in with didn't like us because we used up all their spare rooms and they had to share all their things with us.

We didn't like Chester then but I've grown fond of it since. There was no Zoo then and although the Roman walls looked good for playing on, we weren't allowed to go near them.

My brother Jim wasn't so lucky. He was only eleven and just going from elementary (primary) school to college. Only one other boy from his school had won a scholarship. He had to go with his new school so that except for that one boy he didn't know any of the others or any of the teachers. He went to a village in North Wales called Dyserth. Four boys shared an attic bedroom and the people always spoke to each other in Welsh although their English was very good.

We all missed our families and they were worried to death about how we were being treated. We had to write home every week and could never think of anything to say. My Mum had made us promise to write to each other. It cost me a penny stamp to write to Jim but it only cost him a halfpenny to write to me. That was because printed paper rate was cheaper so he used to write round the edges of his favourite comic, The Hotspur, and send it, after he and his friend had read it of course.

The first few months of the war saw none of the bombing that we had expected so gradually parents brought their children home.

Our school opened again after Christmas but because it was a big house we had to share it with Polish refugees who had moved in when we went to Chester. Jim's school opened after Easter.

By the time the bombing actually started most homes had an air raid shelter and although a second evacuation was organised many people preferred to take their chances at home.

Eileen Carr 2005

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