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'This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Avril Hudson of the Chineham Learning Centre on behalf of Patricia Childs and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

SEPTEMBER 1st 1939 – EVACUATION DAY
(Picture to follow)

As I was 11 years old at the time all this happened I probably thought the whole thing was an adventure with an air of excitement because we had no idea where we were going! The sadness of leaving home was not as heart wrenching for my two sisters and me as our mother was able to come with us.

We had to assemble at our school, Woodmansterne Road SW16 and as School captain at the time I was given the job of carrying the banner at the head of the school, so, yes that’s me in the photograph 65 years ago!

We marched from the school to Streatham Common Station and boarded the train but it wasn’t until we arrived in Eastbourne that we had any idea where we were heading. We marched to the village hall in Willingdon and from there we were taken to our billet. I do not think much consideration was given to suitability as we were lodged with a young couple that had been married just six months. A brand new home, furniture etc.: it must have been a nightmare both for our hosts and my mother.

After three months we returned home to Streatham. There had been no bombing and my parents considered it was safe for us to go back. It remained so until the summer of 1940 when I watched a dogfight over Croydon Airport and it was deemed necessary
to send us out of London.

My sisters went to Paignton with their school and I went to Leatherhead in Surrey. All went well until one lunchtime when I arrived back at my home in Fir Tree Road only to find that a bomb had devastated the house next door and my house was peppered with machine-gun bullets through the pictures, walls and furniture.

Back to Streatham again, to find my mother cooking over an open fire because a nearby gas main had been fractured. After a few days I was sent back to Leatherhead but it was short lived. My father who worked in the Inland Revenue was himself evacuated to Llandudno, North Wales and as soon as he was able to find suitable accommodation for us we joined him.

I completed my schooling at The John Bright Grammar School and on leaving school at the age of 17 went into the Civil Service. We returned to Streatham in 1946 when I was given a post in Somerset House.

That was my war. In the latter years, living in Conwy, meant we were away from the horrors suffered by the big cities. We had no television to bring the tragic scenes into our homes and as young people we lived our lives quite happily, but I would not want my grandchildren to experience the same.

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