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I Joyce Banning give permission for Valerie Oxford to add my written or transcribed material to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War Website

Memories from Garlinge

I was 8 years old and living at Garlinge near Margate with my Mum and two brothers. We were evacuated to Bletchley and stayed with an Aunt and then went onto Chessington with another Aunt whose husband was a despatch rider. We went to school at Chessington but spent a lot of time in air raid shelters. A few months later we returned to Garlinge and found it deserted. All the schools were closed and only 2 — 3 families remained.

I remember walking into Margate and seeing lots of soldiers walking to the station having been recovered from Dunkirk. Some soldiers were billeted on the football field. They gave us fruit cake. There was a big gun there. We also saw a lot of aircraft in and out of Manston. There were tanks and lorries on main roads. A couple of bombs had dropped on Garlinge.

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