大象传媒

I was born and brought up in Totnes until I married and came to Plymouth in April 1952.

At the beginning of 1940 hundreds of young teenagers and children were put on trains to the West Country to get away from the bombing in London. My mother worked in the booking office at Totnes Station. One day many many children arrived on the platform and families in Totnes offered to have these children to live in their homes. These poor children had no idea where they would "land", no parents with them and they were at the mercy of families to take them in - all with their gasmasks.

A porter at the station said to my mother "there is a little girl (she was 11) on the station crying, someone had said she would take her sister but she couldn't take her." My mother went out on to the station platform and said "Come home with me, I've got a little girl of your age and you will be all right with us." This little girl was called Iris Fordham and she stayed with us for several months until the bombing got so bad in London that her parents came down as well. They were able to find accommodation for the family to live and they stayed forever in Totnes and never went back to London. Iris and I kept friends all our life. She married Roy Hext and I married Derrick Hill. Iris and I (after our families grew up) travelled the world together, all over Europe, twice to America and visited our friend Rosemary Cheverton (a Totnes girl) who married and has lived in Florida for 45 years.

Sadly I lost Iris two years ago to cancer and I still miss her very much, but she always said my mum and dad made her life.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.