大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Joanne Burgess on behalf of Dr Horace Black and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was 13 or 14 years old and attending the City of Leeds High School, the central high school in Leeds, when I and other children were told to appear at the central train station in Leeds.

It was immensely sad for the parents to wave goodbye to sometimes very small children. I remember we all had little square gas masks with us.

At the time I thought it was a great lark and I had no sense of anxiety or doubt about the future. I was evacuated to Lincoln and later I realised how idiotic a choice it was to place evacuated children there.

When we first arrived at Lincoln a snake of little boys went up and down the streets. At every house two boys peeled off it was mandatory for people to take children in.

The first night I was in Lincoln we were bombed. Lincoln was very flat countryside and was surrounded by airfields. There was also Lincoln cathedral that was a great landmark for planes so we really were no safer in Lincoln than in Leeds. I stayed for six months. Whilst in Lincoln we had lessons in a church. When school broke up I hitchhiked back to Leeds, everyone gave you a lift in those days.

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