大象传媒

On friday 1st September 1939, some of the children from Major Lester School set out for evacuation. we walked from the school in Walton Breck Road to Bankhall Station, which was a few miles away. No parent was allowed to walk with us. All the parents lined the street. Our kitbags were taken by horse and cart to the station, they had to contain sufficient clothes for two weeks. We arrived by train at Ormskirk and were taken to a school to be allocated a place to stay. i was taken by a mrs Johnson who had a daughter, Marjory who was about 2 or 3 years old. on the saturday we just sorted ourselves out, looking for relatives, my two boy cousins were staying off Aughton street. On that first Sunday i went to the Childrens Service at 9.30 in the Parish church. later we all met in the BOys School for instructions about school, also on that first saturday my father came to see me, with a long list of questions from my mother; she stayed at home that day hoping for news of my brother who had been called up to the army on the thursday previous.
Our instructions for the monday were to meet in Coronation park and we had a nature walk. This programme continued quite a while. The local children went to school in the morning and the Liverpool children in the afternoon. The weather was good for these walks. we eventually went full time when a large church hall became available. Three classes in one room so we listened to the teacher nearest to us.
October holiday i went potato picking on a farm in Aughton; saved enough for a pair of booties, having been told about the cold winters.
mrs Johnson took ill , so i was moved next door to a Mr west and mrs West with one small boy. i did not stay there long as their relatives in Litherland, by Liverpool Docks wanted to move in. Moved next door to a Mr Staniford and Mrs Staniford, they had a niece living with them and another evacuee, Maureen Barnes also from my school. in season did fruit and pea picking.
Mother came to see me as often as she could, bearing in mind she now had to work on account of the war. Moved to Wigan road school which was a comparatively new school with excellent facilities, but it was three miles from Cottage Lane. plus having ot do the return journey at lunch time after dinner the dishes had to be washed and the journey back to school, then the walk home in the evening. All this was on top of having to walk to Aughton street shop at Dewhurst the butcher, Irwins the Grocer and Waterworths the vegetable shop.
Liverpool was being heavily bombed at this time, we could see the lights in the sky. It was from the back bedroom window that i saw the bomd drop on Ormskirk. I could not pinpoint it because I was scared and ran down to our place under the table in the kitchen. People were arriving by the lorry load looking for a nights rest.
I made some very good friends, especially Margaret Forshaw, whose parents owned Redgate Farm. They were a warm and loving family who showed me a lot of love and care, which i am sorry to say i did not get from the landlady who looked upon me as a housemaid and shopper. Dorothy Brown from neart the school was a good friend and we would ramble around on a saturday.
In January 1941 there was to be a wedding in my family. Mother said try and get home for it, as it may be the last time all the family will be together. She was right. I was told there was a pair of black patent leather ankle band shoes for me. I would get home for those shoes. We had a very hard cold week, snow every day; the horses pulled the snow plough around the road. On the saturday i was at the bus stop at 9am eventually a bus came but was only able to go to Aughton on account of the snow. So from Aughton I set of for Liverpool. I walked and walked and eventually came to the race course i recognised and knew that a tram car from there would take me close to home. I made it to the wedding and there fot the first time i spent the night with my parents. A quiet night- no air raids.
After that i did manage the odd night during school holidays. My parents had men from London and the Isle of Man billeted with them.
Some of my best memories are from my time at the Cottage Lane Mission with Captain and Mrs jones, both members of the church army. We had a church army sister at my home church and they made a point to see her at any meetings they were called to in Liverpool. I was in the choir and we always seemed to be practising for something, it was very special time for me. I performed another useful service for the teachers at Wigan Road School. Because i went home for lunch, and food being scarce i did the shopping for the little luxuries which were available in the shops on a friday but not on a saturday when they were free. So as well as getting myself back to school on time i had to fit in all the shopping. One of the teachers let me carry her shopping basket, i felt very special. Silly little things like that spurred me on my way to school.
I eventually returned home at half 12 even having left at 9. I did not worry my parents with my problems; my brother was reported missing but eventually POW, They had enough worry. A little sympathy from Mrs Staniford when the news about my brother being missing would have been welcomed, I just had to keep to routine walking to Dewhurst Irwins and Waterworths. I suppose some people resented having to have to have evacuees living with them. Some looked upon it as an opportunity to sit back and let someone else do all the work. However it was an experience i would not want to go through agian.
I have recently been back to Ormskirk with my husband and he was very impressed with the distances covered by me in a day.

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