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Evacuated to Blackpool

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Dorothy MacKenzie for Three Counties Action on behalf of Grace Drackford and Joyce Davis and has been added to the site with their permission. The authors fully understand the site’s terms and conditions.

On the day war started, Grace was 11 and I was 9. I remember it was 3 September 1939; Victoria Park Hackney on Sunday morning and it was sunny. I was playing on my bike in the street and I was very annoyed that I couldn’t go and visit Gran as Grace did. When the sirens went at 11.00 my brother went to bring her back.

The next day the schools were shut and from then on children were being evacuated. We weren’t at the time. It was called the ‘phoney war’ at first as nothing happened.

Blackpool

In 1940 in the spring our eldest sister was in the WAAF and had friends in Blackpool, so with Mum and three sisters and the dog we went on the train to stay in Blackpool. On the first night we stayed in an old hospital in Kirkham, Preston and we were taken the next day to be billeted. There were young children in the family we lived with in Blackpool and they weren’t very nice to us. Grace came home to London later to live with Dad.

Me and my younger sister were put into another place with Mum and our dog. There was only one air raid during the time we were up there — it wasn’t too bad — not like London.

Our father was with the RSPCA and it was called NARPAC, a charity that cared for animals. The dog used to go with my father to be bandaged so that people could be shown how to bandage animals.

We went to school in Pallantine Road, South Shore, Blackpool. The Americans did training on the shore in front and the teacher used to take us to the beach to do our schoolwork. Blackpool Tower was closed during the War. I left school at 14 and worked in Fleetwood making jackets. There was a shortage of fruit and in the basement was storage of oranges. We all queued up and were given one orange each.

There was a big store called Hills and it was the first time we had seen escalators. There was a zoo on the second floor. We were members of the Co-op choir and we would sing ‘All in the April evening’. There was a stage show by the Salvation Army called ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’. The people we lived with were Salvationists and the Dad drove a tram along the front. These trams are the same today as they were then. Our sister married an airman from West Kirby. We lived in Stamford Road next to the football ground. My birthday was on 7th December and in 1941 I didn’t get a birthday card, as that was the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

We went back to London after VE Day, and when we went back there were loads of Americans in London.

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