大象传媒

During the war my husband served in the Merchant Navy so we rented a house in Dyfred Street, Barry Island. Dyfred Street overlooked the Dry Dock which is part of Barry Dock.
When we moved into the house we had to register where we lived and details of the house we lived in, number of rooms etc.
The house had four bedrooms. My husband, when home, and I had one bedroom with my baby daughter,
My sister and her husband, who was serving in the army, and their baby daughter had another one. Leaving two bedrooms unused.

One night there was a knock on the door, its was the police looking for rooms to house a family of refugees from Belgium. They had managed to escape from Belgium in a small motor boat and arrived in Barry dock.
We had to house them until proper housing could be found. I was able to let them have two bedrooms and a living room and they shared our cooking facilities. There was a mother, father and a boy of about 9 years called Andrea. They only spoke Flemish but we managed to understand each other by using our hands to point and make signs.
I was paid 16 shillings a week to house and feed them. I had to go to Cardiff Town Hall to collect this money once a fortnight. They were only with me a few weeks.

Later I was asked to house two evacuees from Shirley Road, Croydon in London.
These were a Mrs. Hoff and her daughter Thurza. Mrs Hoff鈥檚 husband was a telephone engineer in London, he came to stay some weekends.
They stayed with me for about the last two years of the war. I was paid the same as before, 16 shillings a week.

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