大象传媒

At the beginning of the Second World War my Nanny was three. She had two brothers. One of the brothers was called Peter, he was seven and a half. She lived with her family in Leytonstone in East London. Her Mum, Alice Reader was a housewife and her dad, Abiss Reader was a policeman. George my Nanny's half brother was in the Navy. During the Second World War London was bombed a great deal by the Germans. This is because it was and still is today the capital of Britain and the seat of Goverment. Also ships bringing food and other supplies were unloaded at the London docks. The Germans wanted to prevent the ships from arriving and unloading food so we would have no food from abroad. The Goverment advised that the children were sent to a safer enviroment. That is why my nanny and her brother Ivan Reader were evacuated to Cheshire. My Nan and her brother Ivan had little suitcases to pack their clothes in. They could only take as much as they could carry. They had to take their gas masks and their ration books. They did not take any toys for they could not carry them. All the children were going to travel by steam train. Nanny remembers all the children that were at the station waiting to be bundled onto the train. The Goverment would not let children under the age of three be evacuated, so my nanny was one of the youngest and must have been very frightened. Nanny and Ivan were collected by a couple who already had two boys of their own. From the beginning Nanny and Ivan weren't very happy because the boys would do naughty things and blame it on them. Then Ivan would get beaten. Also they were for forced to eat in the kichen because they weren't allowed to eat with the family. After a very bad day Ivan decided to run away. Ivan said to my nanny, "Pack your suitcase and keep your clothes on underneath your nightie but go to bed as usual. I shall stay awake and tell you when the family are asleep and we shall creep out the front door and go back home!" Everything went as planned. They crept out in the middle of the night and walked along the road with their little suitcases. All my nanny could remember was being really scared. A garage man was closing up for the night and saw the two children walking down the street. Ivan said to Nanny "Keep quiet, I'll do all the talking,". The garage man asked them lots of questions but Ivan wouldn't say anything. So he took my nanny and Ivan in to his office and gave them some sweets. While they were eating the sweets he looked through their suitcases and found a photo of their dad in his police uniform. The garage man phoned the local police station. They used their dad's police number - on the uniform - to track him down. The police number was (896.J). They had to stay over night at the police station because it was the middle of the night. The next morning their mum and dad came to pick them up. When they got home their mum and dad said they would never let them be sent away again. They spent the rest of the war at home. My nanny says that the photo of their dad may have saved their little lives!

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