大象传媒

22 鈥� Peter Silver talks about the evacuees that came to Stratford and about other newcomers:

鈥淓vacuees, yes they came in at the beginning of the war, they came from Birmingham mostly, we did have one or two from other places but from Birmingham mostly because obviously Birmingham is the closest city to us. Yes they came, they went to school, they were billeted on local people, some of them worked for them.
Yes, they were treated well, but it was a bit of a problem at the beginning I think, they were a bit different to us; they came from a different environment. We had the evacuees, we had the Land Girls come, as the Women鈥檚 Land Army was called, the WLA (we used to say something else for that you know!)

They had a hostel at the top of Clopton Road, where the entrance to Jolyffe Park Road is now, that was all fields and they lived up there a lot of them. They were in the town, they used to come down to the dances, the Air Force were in the town as you know, the LTW, when most of the hotels were taken over by the Air Force for training the LTW for aircrews, and the Air Training Corps was up at the school - I was in that, we used to have parades and lessons learning how to fly, and we moved out to Wellesbourne to the aerodrome. There were the Displaced Persons who had come into the town from Europe, refugees, there were the remnants of the Czech Army, Polish Army, French, from all over that were out at Long Marston that had been joined up into our army, to the Pioneer Corps and that, so there were army units on the Racecourse where they had Prisoners of War, so you can just imagine what it was like.
(The locals) didn鈥檛 have a choice, and eventually it fitted in 鈥� eventually! But it was quite a time, I mean if you can imagine it, there was a blackout on at the same time, shortages of this that and the other, rationing, there was the Home Guard racing about, using the old claypit for practice, throwing hand grenades, and machine guns 鈥� you could hear the machine guns going up there, there were all sorts going on. And then, later on in the war of course, the Americans came on the scene, they were stationed on the outskirts at different places and they used to come into the town at night, so you can imagine what sort of a place it was 鈥� quite a wild place. And then, coming up to that, before that period when they were building the aerodromes, Long Marston Aerodrome and camp, Wellesbourne aerodrome, Snitterfield aerodrome, one out at Atherstone, there was one out there, all sorts of places they were building - the dump up Banbury Road 鈥� well, a lot of Irishmen had come over with Wimpeys and all these contractors, they were working on those so they were coming into the town to spend their money, so you can just imagine what the place was like.
There was quite a bit of conflict at night, oh yes. You would get violent fighting sometimes between different groups. Old Mrs Popery round at the Green Dragon, she used to get the Americans out of the one door and the British out of another. Sometimes there would be terrific argument over the local girls and that sort of thing, and at the dances at the Town Hall. There weren鈥檛 many policemen. They had what they called 鈥楽pecials鈥�, and what they called 鈥榃ar Reserves鈥�. I remember one old chap, he lived along here in Windsor Street, he was getting on then, he was a War Reserve, I think he was the only one that would tackle any of them at the time 鈥� old Ralph Goode. They gave him a good hiding once, and he said it wouldn鈥檛 have happened if I had have had my stick with me; anyway the next time he had his stick with him they hit him with his stick! But he was a game old chap he was, he would have a go. He used to call in up at the Malthouse at night and have some drink, and some wine at Kendalls before he came down. He came down one night (they had a lot of firewatchers up there, night duty men and the maltsters were on nights) and he used to call there, he was on nights old Ralph, he called up there one night and he was sat there on that Birmingham Road, almost on the Birmingham road where they had this room where they had all these jars of drink the maltsters, and he sat there one night with them (I used to go down when I was a kid and help them 鈥榯ot out鈥�), and he left there to go down on top of the Theatre, there was a post on top of the Theatre, a lookout post, and he had to go and report up there on top of the Theatre, and he got there and they wouldn鈥檛 let him go up, they said he wasn鈥檛 fit, so he came all the way back up, up to the brewery for them to sign his book to say he was quite sober when he left there! That鈥檚 a true story that is.

(The locals) had fitted into (the changes) hadn鈥檛 they, because when things happen you fit in don鈥檛 you, with all the people, the same as evacuees, they fitted in somehow. You see the thing I was telling you about, when the (secondary) school up the Alcester Road was built (the 鈥楴ew School鈥�) it was opened in 1939, in September, it mixed us all together (the different primary schools in Stratford) not only that, the village children, who up to then had stayed in the village schools, had to come as well, and the change on society was amazing from that happening 鈥� people hadn鈥檛 realized really, and to get them here from Long Marston, Welford, Binton, Tredington, Armscote, Tiddington, Alveston, Wellesbourne, Snitterfield 鈥� to get them here, when they opened the school, all the corridors were full of bicycles all wrapped in brown paper, and they gave all the village kids a bike each. And they had to come in on the bicycles every day.
So, through doing that, it brought the villages really into contact with us when we had no contact before, and I knew the village kids, and I still remember them now, I meet them now, and it opened up a whole new world, just that one thing.
During the War in front of the Theatre where the car park is, they used to have various things in support of the War. I mean I remember having an aircraft stood there, a bomber, and then I remember 鈥榚m having the first power operated turret, it was a big invention you know the power operated gun turret in aeroplanes, in bombers, it saved a lot of lives, they could swivel it about, that was stood there.
Recapping, on Bridge Street, the parades that were held frequently, nearly every week sometimes, you know patriotic parades and National Savings, all the local Home Guard and the Air Training Corps and the Army Cadets, all those used to turn out, the rescue people with the bands, and march up and down the street and the salute was usually taken outside from Marks and Spencers鈥� balcony 鈥� you know that balcony over the doorway when it was the Red Horse Hotel (The Washington Irving?-ed.) they used to take the salute there, there鈥檚 a good many old photographs of that happening.鈥�

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