大象传媒

I was 9 and it was 6 months into the war. Spillers (The Baltic flour Mill) was bombed, and the ash was everywhere, it dropped on houses almost a mile away. Children and families were unable to go anywhere because there was a threat of being bombed. At this point the children were evacuated from the area. My four sisters and I were told we were going away for a while and would be very safe. We had to walk from High West Street to Central Station.
We then boarded a train for North Alleton, North Yorkshire which was almost 2 hours away. We didn鈥檛 know what to expect, we didn鈥檛 know whether we were ever going to see our families again. We had never been to the countryside, we always lived in the City. When we arrived at the train station at North Allerton all the children were taken to the Town Hall where they were picked out. The families were forced to take some children and were even paid for it. Out of the five of us, three stayed together and two got separated. I stayed with two of my sisters and we went to a farm. It was horrible we were expected to work very hard. The home we stayed in smelled and the family looking after us smelt too. We were afraid to go to bed as we didn鈥檛 know what would happen to us, we were always frightened. One of my sisters had caught lice and so the family shaved off her beautiful locks. She had caught the lice from one of the schools the authorities had made for evacuees in town halls and churches. All ages were taught together, from four year olds to thirteen year olds. During the period of time we were there we always had to carry a gas mask and still had to carry one when we got home.
Although the family was strict and bossy, they fed us well. However, we didn鈥檛 have a choice in meals we just got what we were given and had to eat it or starve. Now and then our parents would come to visit, when my father saw my sister鈥檚 shaven head he took us home immediately including one of our other sisters- after we had only been there ten months. My other sister however, enjoyed living with her family and stayed for another year.

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