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Entered on behalf of Pat Piddock.

I was eight years old when war was declared on the 3rd September 1939. I think as children this didn’t really mean much to us.

However one of my many memories of these war years was when the men from Dunkirk were brought back to England. My home town was Folkstone, SE Kent. Hoards of ships and little boats went out from the Harbour to ferry our boys home. I lived near a large railway embankment which was our playing area and as the soldiers were taken from the ships and put onto trains in the harbour, their trains passed by this embankment and stopped. The mums, women and children were there with loads of food and hot drinks. The soldiers looked happy to be home and we all felt as if we were really helping. The soldiers in turn gave us children souvenirs, and I can remember having a chain with a charm of some sort on it, this I carried in my gas mask box right to the end of the war.

Soon after this the Folkstone schools were evacuated to Wales. My brother and I were sent to a village called Penalt on the Wye-Valley near Monmouth, we were billeted with a couple called Herbert, there were eight other evacuees in the home which was called ‘Nodfa’. We had a very happy few years there and I’m still in contact with my best friend Phyllis after 60 years and have been back a few times to visit.

About 3-4 years ago I was visiting the Penalt church and met, in a most remarkable way, the granddaughter of the Herberts. She never knew her Grandparents so I was able to tell her what wonderful people they were, and that no one has ever made a fruit cake like her grandma!

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