大象传媒

Here are two very different experiences of the evacuation. The first by a woman by the name of Doreen Purdy, my grandma. She writes as one of many people who enjoyed being evacuated. On the other hand, Hilda Price, my Grandma鈥檚 sister writes of how she disliked the evacuation experience.

Doreen Purdy

On September 1st, 1939, two days before war was declared the Government decided that towns and cities close to factories would not be a safe place for children. A mass evacuation took place. I along with my sister Sarah, and a thousand other children were put on busses and trains, we all had a label tied to our coats to let people know who we were, we also carried a pillowcase with our belongings in it and a gas mask which we had all been provided.

I noticed looking out of the train window that many of the children鈥檚 mothers were crying. Being so young, I was seven years old; we couldn鈥檛 understand why our mothers were so sad. As children we all felt it was a great adventure and we were quite excited at the thought of a long train ride.

I was sent to Silloth (just past Carlisle) and when we arrived we were all taken into a large hall, each of us were given a brown carrier bag containing fruit, biscuits and some tins of soup. Many of us thought it was lie Christmas. I remember standing in a hall when a woman (Mrs Douglas) chose my sister, Sarah and I together with another evacuee to go and stay with her. The other evacuee only stayed about two weeks. I remember her crying most of the time.

Mrs Douglas was a nice woman to stay with although she was quite strict, we all had to be in bed by 6 O鈥檆lock and we were not allowed to play unless we were in the playroom. They way my new school coped with the large intake of new children was to send the evacuees to school in the mornings and the children from the village in on the afternoons. I remember one day I told Mrs Douglas we were all going down to the beach with our teacher and that we would require a bathing costume. As I did not have a bathing costume, Mrs Douglas decided to sew one of her husband鈥檚 sleeveless wool jumpers to make up a costume for me! Everything went ok until I went into the water. The costume sagged down to my ankles and a good laugh was had by all!

My sister and I had been with Mrs Douglas for about two years when all was agreed that we should go back home for a holiday. We had been home about three days when there was an air raid and I remember the goods station being bombed. I was so afraid that my parents decided to cut short our holiday and send us back to Silloth.

As a child, I had children鈥檚 dreams. I used to dream that I could fly, and would fly back home. I remember shedding a few tears every time I heard someone singing on the radio 鈥淕oodnight Children everywhere鈥�.

An aircraft crashed close to where we lived in Silloth so my sister Sarah and I were moved further away to Wigton. But to my regret we were separated. I became even more homesick, after three and a half years the war was going well for us so we returned home.

My husband and I returned to Silloth on a sentimental journey a few years ago but alas Mrs Douglas had died some time before, I regret not going back to see her earlier.

Hilda Price (her sister)

My name is Hilda Price and I am now 80 years of age. I was born on 29th September 1925 as Hilda Ellerby.

When the Second World War was declared I was at Workington, Cumbria having been evacuated with my school, Pendowere Central Commercial. On Friday September 1st 1939. Many school children were evacuated from Newcastle to the Cambrian area, lots of them were settled in good homes with nice families.

I was billeted with Mr and Mrs Smith; they ran a gents hairdressing shop from their home. I am sorry to say that I wasn鈥檛 very happy with them. At the Christmas of that year my parents brought me back home. I had hope to attend school at Newcastle after the Christmas holiday but unfortunately it was still closed and didn鈥檛 re-open for quite a long time. I didn鈥檛 therefore finish my education properly.

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