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My memory is just getting evacuated to Southport. Six children and my mother went out there. I was in one place on my own, I think they thought I was going to stay there for the rest of my life because they had no kids. My mother and the young kids were only up the road; my two eldest sisters were next door to where I was living.
I think I was about 7 at the time. What happened, we didn’t stay there long. Mum said ‘Oh yes, Jim can stay there’ and my father said ‘Oh no, everyone’s coming home’
They were nice people. The first few days after I got there they went out and bought me a big red yacht. I always remember it, because when I was coming home they wouldn’t give it to me. Then after that we used to go from Bootle on Jarvis Robinson’s open wagon. We all used to climb on there, no sides on, everyone jump on there and out to Ormskirk and we used to stop at the church on one of the hills there. Going out early in the morning and back home to Bootle in the evening.
I've never heard from anyone that I was with. I don’t live in Bootle anymore; we live in the ‘posh’ part of Huyton, Roby!
We had quite a lot of bombs around where we lived, just off Hawthorn Road, Menai Road by the cemetery there. A landmines and everything, but we only had a few windows broken. We were lucky, very lucky.

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