大象传媒

My name is George A.Dangerfield and my story really starts at Pakefield Elementary School, Pakefield near Lowestoft, Suffolk around 1939/40.

We were told that the whole school was to be evacuated, or at least our parents were told, so I together with the rest of the pupils were eventually hearded together at Lowestoft railway station, complete with our little cardboard box, which contained our 'gas mask', a luggage label tied to our coat lapel and very little else, to be sent God knows where. There was much crying and tears, from children and parents, since nearly all of us wanted to stay at home, but those who new better or thought that they knew better decided what they were going to do with our lives. (Nothing much has changed in 65 years has it?)

At the time I was a skinny 12 year old, and I did not think then that there was anything wrong with staying at home. The 'phony' war was in progress and all we saw at this time was the occasional Dornier bomber or Junkers bomber reconnoitering the area.

I together with a large number of frightened kids arrived eventually at Creswell. The only thing I knew about Creswell was that they had a fantastic Brass Band that could be heard some times on the 'radio'.

Do you remember those boxes with enormous valves that glowed when they were turned on, with dials, that when turned or twisted emmitted ear piercing sounds through the speakers. or perhaps the 'crystal' sets where your dad placed earphones on your head and you could hear some fellow saying something like"This is 2LO, station 2LO calling"?

To get back to my story we arrived, frightened and somewhat forlorn, at Creswell and were met, or sent to our foster parents houses. I went with a kindly lady called Mrs. Collins to a very nice house on the main road fropm where you could look down the hill and see Creswell colliery in the middle distance. Mr.Collins worked down this mine and came home covered in coal dust, as did all of the miners in those days. No comfortable pithead baths and changing rooms in those days. Mr. and Mrs Collins also had one son, pretty much the same age as myself.

We children were then brought together to continue our education in a delightful country house that had been 'taken over' for the duration of hostilities and most of us were getting on quite well with our nrew families.

For myself I adjusted very easily into the family life. My foster dad would go off to work with his 'snap', his lunch or cold dinner, in a tin box together with a tin can of tea which he ate and drank whilst he was in the bowells of the earth digging out coal. We kids went off to school and in the main enjoyed our time there. After school we returned to our homes were the routine was to wait outside or in the bedroom till my foster mum had dragged the tin bath into the living room from the hook on which it hung, which was in the outside yard. By the time 'dad' came home fromt'pit 'mum' had filled it with hot water from the kettle which was always hanging over the fire, it was a great big black kettle which was as much as 'mum' could manage. @Dad would strip off in front of the fire and 'mum' would wash the grime out of his hair and off his back whilst us kids kept out of the way.

This idealic life continued for a time untill 'jerry' started to bomb the pits. This continued, and was very heavy, for some time till I got fed up and wrote to my own parents and told them that I might as well die at home than where I was so eventually I arrived home via a trip to the railway station by horse and cart (there were no taxis then). Arriving home I told my dad that I might as well get a job and after much persuasion, and a few tears from my mother, started work as an assistant stoker at Richards Ship Yard in Lowestoft, Suffolk where I stayed till I volunteered for the Royal Navy when I was 17 years of age.

In passing I must say that I was very happy with my foster mum and dad, and did manage to visit after the war, when they had a little business in Creswell to thank them for taking care of me during the months that I was with them.

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