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I lived at Fern Grove in Liverpool. I was at a junior school aged about five years old. I remember an announcement was made by Chamberlain that the war had started. It was said that we would have to get out of Liverpool because it was so dangerous. We all assembled in a big hall and were issued with a gas mask and a name tag. Some such as myself were sent to North Wales and some went to Yorkshire. I went with my sister but we were separated which was heartbreaking. The worst thing was saying goodbye at the train station to my mother. I was so scared because I didn’t know where I was going.

We were there for five or six years and I didn’t see my sister until after the war. I stayed with a woman named Mrs Bellis and her husband and four sons. It wasn’t a very nice life. They made me do a lot of the housework and I was very unhappy so I ran away. The family found me and took me back. I tried to escape again so the evacuation organisation investigated my treatment. I then went to another family — the Taylors who were a young couple, for two years.

We came back to Liverpool after the war. My house had been bombed. I felt terrible. I had no idea where my sister was. I was taken into a home for orphans and I stayed there for six months until they found my mother who was working in a hotel as a waitress. My sister was with her. We then lived in the servants’ quarters until it became safe again.

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