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VE Day Memories : MRS ROSE SKINNER 鈥� MIDHURST, SUSSEX

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I remember going to Waterloo Station with my mother and my older sister (lily) to be evacuated to a school in Midhurst, Sussex.

(in 2004 my son and daughter took me down memory lane to visit the school and I was invited into the school by the headmistress to look round the school. The headmistress still had the register and found my name. The school in London where I had come from was 鈥淔friars Street School, Blackfriars. I was invited to speak to the children at West Lavington CE Aided First School which they and i thoroughly enjoyed. The children asked many questions and were very interested. One little boy told her that his grandmother had come down during the war and made her home with them. I have a photograph of my son and I standing outside the school. I also has obtained a copy of a photo of fellow evacuees and the children of the family where I was living 鈥� Alan, Rita and Mavis. It was my first visit to the countryside and the children showed me the country ways, nothing was wasted, fruit made into jam and also wine. My mother would visit me once every two weeks and would travel by train, sometimes having to get off the train until the all clear went due to a raid.)

I met the family again when I was asked to be bridesmaid at Rita鈥檚 wedding.

My older sister. Lily was evacuated with her insurance company and whilst working in Eastbourne unfortunately contracted meningitis. She was only 17 when she died. The doctor advised my mother to bring me home from the farm to be with her, which meant I was in London when the 鈥渄oodle bugs鈥� started. I vividly remember the noise and the silence when it stopped and was very frightened. My mother would reassure me that everything would be fine 鈥� which it was.

Charlie (18), my brother served in the Fleet Air Arm as an air gunner.

A friend of mine has found details of her father鈥檚 war record listing when he joined up in France (Irish Fusilliers) and details of the medals he was awarded. He never spoke about his experiences during the first World War.

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