大象传媒

On the 20th/21st June, 1940 a very great change came to my ten year old sister Pamela and myself, two months short of nine years old. Up till that time the Second World War had not made a great deal of difference to our lives which we led quite simply. We lived at Valnord Bank House with our parents, Reg and Ellen Gould, our brother Ronald who was almost twelve, Toby our dog and two cats.

Then the position altered. Our Minister met our mother who was with us and told us about the proposed evacuation. The Germans were approaching the Channel Islands after Dunkirk and their march across Europe. After a lot of heartsearching and worry, a decision was made that the young children and parents who would accompany them would be evacuated to England. Our parents decided that we should be amongst them and they would come on afterwards. My mother and my Auntie Tina worked until very late getting our clothes ready and sewing name tags on everything. We were to travel in our summer coats and we were allowed only a little case each.

We had to report to our schools at 2.30 a.m., Pamela and I at Vauvert and Ronald to Les Vauxbelets College. We were taken to the White Rock at 6.00 a.m. and sat around on our bags until about 12.00 o'clock. We were given some iron rations as we were all hungry. We embarked on a cargo ship called "Felixstowe" and were placed in the hold. We were also given tomatoes and little triangles of cheese. The boat went a very roundabout way to Weymouth - it should have taken about 4 hours normally - but we were dodging possible mines.

We arrived at Weymouth at nearly midnight after a rotten crossing when most of us were ill. As we disembarked, my hat blew into the sea and a kind sailor rescued it and returned it to me. We were then taken to a cinema and we naively thought we were going to see a film. We weren't. We had a medical and then were put on a train - our first train journey and boat journey for that matter - and travelled through the night, arriving in Glasgow the next day. The journey was so tiring after our earlier travel. It was very difficult having to sit up.

We were taken to a Church Hall and we stayed there for about a week or so. We slept on camp beds and were looked after by very kind ladies, aided by our own teachers. We had regular fire drills and we started sleeping in our vests and pants, etc. under our pyjamas. The reason for this was because whoever was first dressed and by the door after the alarm was rewarded with a sweet.

The first weekend was quite exciting for us as Pamela and I were taken out by a Policeman and his wife and ten year old daughter. We went in their car and, among other places, they took us to Rouken Glen. A car drive in those days was a very unusual experience for us. The gentleman wrote to our parents telling them we had arrived safely and that we were nicely behaved little girls. The letter arrived in Guernsey after Mum had left but just before the Germans turned up!! Dad was pleased to have that news. He was caught up in the raid on the White Rock and had left it too late to join us.

While staying in the Hall, I well remember one day being taken to the public baths. I shared a bath with another girl and the smell of lavender soap invariably brings back memories of that event.

One evening, just as we were going to sleep, we were called from our beds by our Headmistress, Miss Ida Naftel, to see a lady and gentleman who had decided to give a home to one or two evacuees. We chatted for a few minutes and they went away. We then went back to sleep,

A few days later, the gentleman came on his own. He was wearing a bowler hat and suit and looked very strict. Some children had already teased us by saying that they thought he drank. We were a bit frightened. How wrong could they be. He and his wife, whom we called Uncle and Auntie, were strict teetotallers and very religious. Their names were Alec and Agnes Scott.
We went on the bus to Paisley and sat across from him. When we arrived at the house, which was called "Roseneath", the lady opened the door and greeted us with a big smile. She said "Welcome to our house. We want you to treat it as your own home", I piped up "We will wash and dry your dishes every day." We started then and did the breakfast and tea dishes every day
from then on.

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