大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from 大象传媒 Radio Norfolk on behalf of Pauline Charnley and had been added to the site with her permission. Pauline Charnley fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

The Perils of Pauline

1 鈥擣elixstowe

Although I was only ten years old when war was declared I knew we would have to move away from London. So on the 3rd September 1939 with my mother, four brothers and my sister Pamela, we and most of the other children in the neighbourhood were bundled into endless lines of coaches and taken to Felixstowe on the East coast.

When we arrived at what must have been the local social hall, we were allocated billets according to the number of people. As there were seven of us we had to wait a while. During the time we waited each of us was given a carrier bag with groceries in, mostly tinned goods. Eventually two very prim ladies agreed that we should stay with them. The house was quite big but we stayed outside in the summer house while they made mother a cup of tea. In the bags we had been given small tins of thick evaporated milk, they said we could drink that. It was awful and I hated that milk for years. We only stayed in that billet for a short while, although they did want me to stay but mother said no. They gave me a New Testament with pictures in when we left.

Sometime in November mother went back to London with my baby brother Kenneth. The three older boys, Norman, Leslie and Cyril went to stay with the Quickfall family. They were Mrs Quickfall, her three daughters Brenda, Cynthia and Gay, also a grandson John who was Normans age. Pamela, my sister ( who was a pretty child with big dark brown eyes and the longest lashes anyone will ever see) were sent to an elderly couple who already had six other evacuees. Looking back they must have been very kind and caring, but as Mrs. Brown looked a bit like a witch and Mr Brown like an ogre, I was not very happy. A couple of weeks later their doctor came and Mrs. Brown said he must see her new guests. Well as usual he looked at Pamela and said ' look at those eyes, I could eat you'. I took him seriously. I wrote immediately to mother to get us out of there. Poor
Mrs. Brown, she was upset. She took me into their sitting room, it was full of toys as it was nearly Christmas and said ' some of there were for you and Pamela' but I really did not want them. That was the first important lesson I learned in life, that material things don't matter as much as peace of mind. Anyway we also went to live with Mrs. Quickfall and my brothers.

During this time we children would go to Saturday morning theatre to see pantomimes or variety shows. One Saturday they held a talent show. A little boy about five years old said a short rhyme which went,
Ginger nut fell in the tutt
And frightened all the fishes up.
I sang 'Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye' Vera Lynn's song. He came first for the boys and I came first for the girls.

2 -to Wales, Cornwall and back again

In 1940 the Germans started firing guns across the Channel so we were sent to Wales, to Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley. Pamela and I stayed with Mrs. Astley. Her father had two parrots, a grey one which was very spiteful and stayed in the cage . The other one was green and red, very tame and it went everywhere on his shoulder. Pam and I thought it was great.

At the beginning of September 1940 my mother came to Treorchy as she was going to have a baby. Another sister was born on the 29th September. As she was the first baby born to and evacuee, everybody made a great deal of fuss and she had lots of presents. Cyril my six year old brothers was sent to a family in Cwmparc who had a son his age. Another family of mother and five children had just come from London. Two boys were in one billet, two girls in another and mother an baby in another, also in Cwmparc.

Normally we were quite safe in the valley, but a couple of German planes had flown off course and seeing the pithead lights just dropped their bombs. The two boys and one of the girls was killed, the other girl was badly injured. My friend Jessie who was billeted with the district nurse in Cwmparc had lost her widowed mother in an air raid in London so the nurse was going to adopt her. Sadly the nurse was also killed. However, eventually the parents of the nurse adopted Jessie. Happily Cyril stayed safe.

In 1941 I passed the scholarship and qualified for a Grammar school place. It was decided I would go to St. Angela's Convent School. They had taken over a hotel in Newquay, Cornwall. It was just like a boarding school. Most of the other hotels were taken by the Army and the Air Force. The then Duke of Kent came to revue the airmen in the adjoining buildings. While we were watching them from our windows, I looked out to sea and saw something bobbing about, as it got closer I thought ' that looks like a mine'. I went and told one of the nuns and she went outside and told a policeman. It was a mine and it was dealt with, with a bang. Just after this visit the Duke of Kent was killed in an air crash.

From our hotel we just walked across the road to the beach so we were allowed to go swimming in the afternoon before tea. On one venture a couple of us youngsters were not aware of the strong tide, suddenly people on the beach were shouting and waving, the next thing a few of the soldiers came rushing into the water to bring us back. Lucky for us they were there. Another time we went sea fishing with two priests and I caught two mackerel. We also did some potato picking to help the war effort.

After I had been there a year most of the girls had gone back to London and the hotel was closed so I went back to Wales with mum, my brothers and sisters. I stayed with a lady called Mrs Lewis and her two daughters, Peggy the eldest was about two year older than me, Tessie was about six. She did tap dancing and the class was rehearsing for a pantomime in Pontypridd a town down the valley. I went to one of the classes to watch and the teacher let me join in. I did remember one of the steps and years later ( when I was 54 year old) I joined a tap class and we did the same step there. It was called the Suzy Q.

By now it was 1943 and there was a Wings for victory week in the Rhondda. In Treorchy there was to be a big parade and collections to be made among the crowds. My mother got some red, white and blue crepe paper to make dresses for my friend Eunice and myself. We collected 拢10.00 which was a lot of money then. Saving stamps were bought with the money and stuck onto a bomb which was going to be dropped on Germany. In August of 1943 things had quietened down on the air raid front so we, the whole family went back to London.

All seemed to be going fine. I went to the East Ham Grammar school and joined the girl guides which I really enjoyed. Then the 'doodlebugs' started, the first one that came fell a few turnings from where we lived. We were next door to the local clinic so during the war it was used as an emergency centre. People that were injured were brought there. One man came running with his small daughter in his arms, he was crying, the tears running down his face. I had never seen a man cry before. So once more we were sent away. It was now 1944.

3 - Carlisle and Home.

This time we, ( mother, four brothers and two sisters) were sent right up country to a little village called Aglionby just outside Carlisle, and of all things our billet was a small mansion. Garibaldi had slept in the room we were given. The people were called Mr and Mrs Lonsdale. The grounds were extensive. There was a walled kitchen garden with a glass house where they grew peaches. On one occasion I went into the garden, my mother and Mrs. Lonsdale were picking some red things from the ground. Mrs. Lonsdale called ' go away, this is to be a surprise for you'. I we to find brother Les and said ' what's red and grown on the ground' he didn't know. It turned out to be strawberries. I was all but 15 years old and just found out that strawberries grew along the ground.

After a couple of months a cottage on a small holding became available so the eight of us moved there. It was a dear little place with a chimney in the shape of a Toby Jug.

The man that owned the cottage was called Rowley. To this day I don't know his surname. He bought and sold animals so quite a few came and went. One day he fetched an old horse, we called him Fella ( short for old fellow). He was so gentle, we would tie a cushion on his back and put the children up for a ride and if he felt the cushion move he would just stop so they wound't fall. We were really sad when he had to go.

Next to out house along the road was a Golf Club with the usual large club house. The back being mostly glass to see across the course, which also came across the back of our fields. I explain all this because in one of our fields we had a black Irish bull. Being town children we didn't have a fear of the animals so Donald as we called him was a great friend. We would feed him titbits and fuss him all the time. One day mother went into town to do some shopping, leaving Leslie and me to watch the younger ones.

Suddenly there was a heavy banging on the door, it was the secretary from the golf club and he was really agitated. 'do you have a black bull' we said we had, ' is it still in the field because there's one outside out golf clubhouse ready to charge the windows at any moment'. We looked and Donald was not there. 'go and get him Les' I said. The man from the club said ' you will need a pitchfork or something'. We explained that was not necessary. Off they went and Leslie got round to where the bull was and called ' come on Donald' whereupon he just turned and followed Leslie away. Afterwards Leslie said, ' You could hear the thud as their chins hit the floor'.

Rowley had quite a few hens in the yard. If they got broody he would just shut then in a cupboard until they got over it. I think some of them must have been used over Christmas. So to make up the numbers the next hen would have some eggs. Leslie and I went to the farm to get a dozen, the farmer said you must have a bakers dozen and he gave us a duck egg. Rowly gave me the job of looking after her and all thirteen eggs hatched. As I did so well he gave me the duckling. A friend of Leslie's whose dad was a farmer had also set some eggs and when his all hatched he gave me one of his chicks. ( it grew into the biggest cockerel you ever saw). Another lad in the village whose cat had kittens gave me two of then, but mother drew the line and said I could only keep one. I kept the ginger tom. I also gathered in a little dog called Daisy another unwanted pet.

By this time the war was coming to an end so we found Daisy another very good home. So when we got on the train to come back to London, there was mother, seven children, one cat, one duck and a chicken and fun was had by all.

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