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I have two significant photos of myself at the ages of four and four-and-a-half. The four year old is stood on Ramsgate "sands" next to a Donald Duck who was as big as I was. The beach photographer roamed the beach and would photograph children. I conclude that this was the summer before War broke out as the beaches were closed during the War, mined and barbed-wired off due to the threat of invasion from France only 20 miles across the Channel.

The second photo shows me in a studio in best dress and large hair ribbon and new shoes. The shoes were given to all children to be evacuated away from the South Coast area. The children were also photographed. There must be lots of people, my age now, who have similar photos.

In September 1939 when War was declared against Germany, children from London were evacuated because of fear from bombing raids on the Capital. After Dunkirk the threat of invasion loomed and it was decided to send the South Coast children away to a safer area. Stafford was chosen as the receipt area.

On a Sunday morning in June 1940 in a space of 5 hours; 3,255 children and 241 staff and helpers left the town for safety. My older brother, Tom who was eleven, and I who was four-and-a-half were among these. Our father was in a reserved occupation and had not joined the Services so he and my mother remained in Ramsgate; he was in the Home Guard. Also on the platforms at the Railway Station were soldiers who had returned from Dunkirk, locked into carriages, being taken to Army Camps. I met one of these soldiers many years later.

On the train I thought I was going on an outing. I took a dislike to an older girl; sitting opposite me and stuck my tongue out at her. Unfortunately she was sent to the same billet as my brother and I and we never did get on together.

When the train arrived in Stafford all the children, with their labels, little cases and gas masks were lined up and marched along the road to a large warehouse where we sat on crates and were given a bottle of milk with a cardboard top. As we walked along the road a lady, in the crowd gathered to watch us, popped a sweet into my mouth.

I don't know how we were selected for our billets. I have seen films where prospective foster parents came along and chose the children they wanted. My brother and I, the girl in the train and her brother all went to an area of Stafford called Tenterbanks to live with two sisters. Anybody who had a spare bedroom or two was expected to take evacuees. I think these ladies did not really want us 4 children and I certainly was very unhappy there with lots of miserable memories.

One of my aunts had given me a china baby doll which I loved. Opposite our house was a playground with a "King's Crown" roundabout, as well as swings and other rides. As I stood watching other children on the roundabout, one leaned out and snatched my doll. It fell and broke causing me much distress. Many years later my own 2 daughters found a replica of this doll for me, and it sits in my display cabinet.

Before the year ended my brother and I were split up and taken to other homes. He had several billets before he was settled with Mr & Mrs Tagg in Stafford. I went to live in Gnosall, with a Mr & Mrs Tagg. The two men were brothers and we were very happy in our new homes. When I joined the local infants school I was pleased to find children from my Ramsgate School. I can only suppose that if I hadn't stayed with my brother whose school went to Stafford, I would have gone to Gnosall first.

"Auntie" & "Uncle" gave me a little room of my own. You had to go down two steps to it and it had a black furry rug on the floor which made your toes tickle when you stood on it. There was a pump in the back garden and it was wonderful to make the handle go up and down to get ice-cold water into the bucket. My brother visited me in Gnosall and remembers going to church in the snow at Christmas.

At school the evacuee children would write a letter home to Mum and Dad each month. The teacher would write the school address on the blackboard. Then as the next line:

Dear Mum and Dad,

I hope you are safe and well ....

then you would go on with your own news.

For years I thought all letters had to begin this way. My mother kept two of the letters and I still have them.

After the threat of invasion was over, the children began to be fetched back from Stafford. My school came home before my brother's school and by the end of 1942 I have memories once more of Ramsgate. This time I found myself adjusting to a war situation. Not so many bombs were falling, but there was a new threat from occupied France. Shells from long range guns were landing on Ramsgate.

There is an extraordinary addition to my evacuee story.

My brother and I visited Gnosall in 2004. As he was older than I he had more idea of where I had lived. He located the church we had attended at Christmas and there, next to the church was the house I had lived in with Mr & Mrs Tagg. Mr & Mrs Hill live there now and they were very happy to meet us and show us over the house - how kind they were. The pump is no longer there and my little bedroom is a bathroom - still there are the steps you went down. Through them I met up with Mrs Tagg who is now 90 years old.

My brother Tom's story "TOM'S WAR" has been submitted in 3 parts. Part 1 - Before Evacuation; Part 2 - Evacuation & Part 3 - After Evacuation can be found at A6470291; A6589885 & A6678048 respectively.

Story: This story has been submitted to the People's War site by Muriel Palmer (volunteer) of Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on behalf of Sheila COX (author) and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

see Sheila Cox's brother Tom's stories and photographs:

• Tom’s War (Part 1 — Before Evacuation)
• Tom’s War (Part 2 — Evacuation)
• Tom’s War (Part 3 — After Evacuation)

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