大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by David Baker at Dorking Library and has been added to the website on behalf of James Linsell with his permission and he fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

This is an account of the war time evacuations of my sister, my brother and me to various homes outside of London.

My name is Jim Linsell. It was 1939, and I was standing on Paddington Station with my younger brother, Bob and my mother. I didn鈥檛 know where we were going or why; all I knew was that Mother had said we鈥檇 be all right. 鈥淲hatever happens,鈥� she said to me, 鈥渉old hard on your brother鈥檚 hand and don鈥檛 let yourselves be separated.鈥� At Swindon, we went by coach to a community centre or church hall in Cricklade. Gradually, all the children in the hall were paired up with new hosts and taken away until only Bob and I were left. We had received plenty of invitations, but only for one of us at a time, not both. However, nothing would persuade me to let go of Bob鈥檚 hand and, in the end, a Mrs Giles agreed to take us both.

I am sure she was a kind lady, but we felt we were treated as second class citizens. I think it was just that she was a bit strict. Whatever it was, it was all very different to the easy atmosphere we were used to; for example, they only sat in the front room on Sundays. We never felt comfortable there. The worst thing for me though was the effect on my schooling. I had already been through four schools back in London because of the bombing, then there was another here in Cricklade, and later there were several more.

We were there for just under a year, during which Mother visited occasionally, but we did not remain there for long after her last visit. My father came with her on this occasion and Mrs Giles, whose husband had just left for war said 鈥淲hile you鈥檝e got your husband here, he can do something for me鈥� and she asked him to deal with a problem in her loft. A little later, there was a sudden cracking noise and a shower of dust as my father鈥檚 legs appeared above us sticking through a hole in the plaster ceiling. 鈥淢y ceiling!鈥� cried Mrs Giles. 鈥淣ever mind your ceiling,鈥� said my Mother, 鈥淲hat about my husband!鈥� We didn鈥檛 stay more than a week after that.

Later Mother went to Ware taking Bob and my sister Audrey. It wasn鈥檛 long before Bob ran away. One day, they couldn鈥檛 find him. Audrey said, 鈥淗as his money box gone?鈥� and it had. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 it then,鈥� she said, 鈥淗e鈥檚 gone.鈥� Shortly afterwards, he turned up back home in Tattersalls in Knightsbridge where we all lived. Mother opened the door and there he was. Mother told him it was no good running away 鈥� he would just have to go back. However, on the day he was due to return, he disappeared again. They found him in the end behind the bathroom door with tears streaming down his cheeks, so they let him stay after all.

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