大象传媒

When the war started in 1939, most of the children were evacuated to Chester. I remember going down to Lime St. station with my sister Teresa who was 7yrs of age and I was 9yrs old. The train was at the platform waiting to take us to Chester. On the evacuation away from the bombing of Liverpool while we were waiting for the train to leave the platform, the women鈥檚 WVC. gave out drinks of tea chocolate bars sandwiches before leaving for Chester the train left Lime St. station for Chester, every child on the train was issued with a gas mask, we also had two school teachers from St.Bridgets to look after our education. When we arrived in Chester, the teachers looked after our well being, they were Mr. Merryman from the boys and Mrs. Brennan, from the girls school. When they sorted out were the Liverpool evacuees where to live, the people of Chester came around to pick out the children they wanted girls or boys. The woman who picked me out wanted a boy, another women wanted a girl so she took my sister Teresa, so we become separated. She lived in one house and I lived in another house, they where called billets.
The people we lived with were very nice, the family who lived in the house had two sons, the youngest son I played games with, the oldest lad was interested in making model planes out of wood and sticking them together with tubes of glue. I thought he was great making all these models out of wood. I enjoyed living there but the evacuees where told to come back to Liverpool. For a while there was a lull in the bombing of Liverpool. But around 1940, the bombing started off again I was about 10yrs of Age, the family moved home to a new flat in Portland Gardens Tenements off Burlington St, the bombing started off again as soon we moved home, We where told we going to be evacuated to North Wales to a place called Bets y Coed, a small village or Farming community by a beauty spot called the Swallow Falls. When we arrived we were taken to the Local school all the evacuees where moved to different houses and farming areas.
Me and my sister Teresa, were located out to a farm managed by two old people a man and a woman we attended. The village school for lessons five days a week, we where picked up everyday for school, there wasn鈥檛 much to do after school on the farm we were isolated living miles away from everyone it become very lonely after coming home from school, staying in the farmhouse of night me and my sister you was 8 yrs old and myself 10 yrs, a few school books read. They gave us butter milk to drink before we had to go to bed saying it was good for you the food we ate on the farm was pretty good. The old man and woman where kind people to us but it was a lonely place to live miles from everywhere and Liverpool. We sometimes be come homesick especially my sister you never left my side for she was so young at the time and weeks went by the old women asked if I could do some work because her husband had taken ill, she wanted me take the farm horse to take the milk, to the top of the lane for the milk lorry to pick up the milk, I done the job she asked me to do that made her happy. When I had to harness the horse it was a very difficult job for I never done anything in like that my life everything on the farm was different to living in Liverpool.
The old lady鈥檚 name was either Mrs Jones or Roberts she asked me to do another job on the farm will I bring in the cows from the field for milking at the end of the day I said alright. I went up to the field to round the cows up to bring them back to the barn for milking they would not move, I learnt later from the old woman the cows would not move because they did not know me like they knew here husband. The farmers wife said she will bring the in the cows herself she asked if I like to go to the field with here which I did we brought the cows in together. After the farmer recovered from his illness everything returned to normal. Weeks went by on the farm the town near by was named Coed one day the farmers wife said the farm had a owner who lived in Caernarvon in north Wales. The owner of the farm called at the farm and took us on a weeks holiday to the place were he lived which was Caernarvon.
After a few weeks went by after we came back to the farm, we where told the evacuees where moving on to a town called Llannwrst north Wales. When we arrived there we all were assembled in the local school the teachers from saint Bridgetts school where there to sort out to which billet the children where to be taken to, people came into the school and picked out the children they wanted two women came into the school and said they only wanted a one girl so they took my sister they owned a farm outside the town about a mile away named Pennfron. A short time after she left a women came in and picked me out to live with her and the family in the town, there name was Mrs. Jones nearly every name was either Jones or Roberts. It was a small terrace house in the town we started to go to the local school from Monday to Friday and to be taught by are own teachers you came with us from Liverpool Mrs Brennan and Mr Merryman.
There was a cinema in the town, and a Arcade for entertainment outside of that there wasn鈥檛 much for the Liverpool evacuee to do. There was a river Conway running though the town of Llannwrst where the children played by the riverbank. The Liverpool kids loved playing by the river, the weekend was the time of the week for playing around the town and the countryside every Sunday I would visit my sister Teresa who lived on a farm outside the town. A would walk from the house about 12-30 and arrive at the farm around 1pm the sheep dog would always run to meet me at the farm gate, I walk a though the gate down a path to the farm where miss Jones and here elderly mother would meet me with my sister Teresa and would sit down and have are dinner, together also on the farm there where two elderly sons called Willey and Owen who looked after all the farming land which was a 60 acre in area I remember my mother visiting the house in Lannwrst and telling the Welsh women Mrs Jones she was taking me home to Liverpool saying that she was neglecting me and not feeding me and she was not spending the government money on food and accused her of starving me, she was told right out she was taking me home to Liverpool so I came back home, and that was the end of the evacuation. After I arrived home from Wales I was told we moved to a new home 55c Portland Gardens, off Burlington Street.

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