大象传媒

In July 1944 I was twelve years old and I was evacuated to Darlington to give me a break from the Flying Bombs falling on London. I was sent to stay with some distant relatives.

'Uncle' Alft Brown was a London Cockney and worked fro the GPO as a van driver delivering parcels and his wife, 'Aunt' Rose, was a Yorkshire girl. They must have been in their middle fifties and had no children of their own.

I can't remember exactly where they lived but I am sure that their terraced house was in a street where at the top was a road where there were sheds where railway engines were either made or repaired. I think three was a brook (sorry beck) nearby and that the area was to the north of the town centre.

The first thing I remeber seeing, at the railway station, was Stephenson's Rocket.

It was the school summer holidays - so what could I do? I spent a lot of my time going to the cinema. Aunt Rose had relatives who ran a Public House and they advertised the programmes of the cinema that was practically opposite. For doing this they had a free pass for the cinema and they gave it to me. This cinema changed its programmes three times a week - that is on Mondays, Thursday and Sundays. So I could see six films a week because each programme consisted of the main film and the second feature.

They were many other cinemas in the town all showing different programmes. My parents could send me only half a crown a week (twelve and a half pence) but I did get myself a job doing a paper round but it meant a cycle ride into the centre of town early each morning.

Another experience way my first visit to a live theatre - I had never seen a play before. I think that the production was put on by amateurs and the play told the story of the foundation of the Co-operative Society in Rochdale. I think that 1944 was the Society's Centenary Year. This was the beginning of my life-long love of the theatre.

I found the people of Darlington to be very friendly and I was taken on trips to the coast - Redcar, Saltburn and Whitley Bay. The beaches were out of bounds and cut off by barbed wire and, I believe, minded as a precaution of a German invasion.

On 2nd September an Aunt, from London, came to visit. On Thursday 7th we received a letter from my parents saying that the Flying Bombs had stopped and it was safe for me to come home. So on Saturday 9th I left Darlington for Kings Cross - only to discover that the first of the V2's had fallen on London the day before.

Recently I visited Darlington for the first time in sixty one years. The only places I recongnised were the theatre and Binns the departmental store.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.