大象传媒

鈥榃ake up 鈥� said Mum. 鈥淚t is time to get ready for school鈥�. What was to happen, we did not know, so, after breakfast we left home, my three sisters and two brothers, one sister had died the month before, so two smaller sisters were left behind with Mum.
Dad had left. He joined the Army as the Germans were sinking the coal and cargo boats and with working on the Docks, there was no work or money coming in, so he joined up before he was called. That left nine of us at home.
We left home with a paper bag with a change of vest, socks and pants and a penny each.
When we got to Vauvert school, we all went to our own classes to meet our teachers. Then after getting on a bus we went down to the White Rock.
There was a lot of people at the Weighbridge. I saw my mother鈥檚 auntie by the clock, but they didn鈥檛 see us. We were all day down the harbour, sitting on the pier. We were given milk and cake and a sandwich. We were there from 10a.m. to 4.30 p.m. We went back to school as there weren鈥檛 any boats, then we had to go down again.
We were down in the hold of the boat, it wasn鈥檛 very nice as we could not go up on deck till we landed in England. The teachers used to hold up blankets so we could use the buckets for toilets 鈥� they said there were too many people on board to use the toilets.
When we landed in England, we went into a large building 鈥� I think it was a Pavilion or something like that. We saw a doctor and a nurse, then we went back to a school hall and had a sandwich and a drink, but had to sleep on the floor as there were no beds left. Next day, after a wash and breakfast, we went to play in the playground. We were speaking to children who lived in England. They said to throw our money through the wires and they would buy our sweets for us. We only had a penny, which we gave them, but they never came back. I never forgot that!
Later on, I don鈥檛 remember if it was the next day or not, we went to a Railway Station, the first time we saw a real train. We did not know but we were going to Scotland (Glasgow). That was the last time I saw my brothers as we were all separated with our teachers. It was four months before I saw them again.
We had a long journey on the train. One of our teachers (Miss Martel) threw a note out of the window at one of the stations to let people know that Vauvert School was going to Glasgow. She was hoping someone would find it as they could not let anyone know where we were.
When we arrived in Glasgow, as we got off the train, I fainted. When later I was told it was because I was tired and frightened of all the big horses with policemen on them. They were so big.
We were in a church hall called Cathcart, my two sisters and myself. We had to stand by our beds and wait to be picked out, who wanted to billet us. One sister was sent to Rosey, a seaside place. We never saw her for another 4 to 6 months.
My other sister and I were billeted at a place called Neverlee Road. We were in the same road with different people but did not see each other for a while as we did not know we were living so close to each other. We were not allowed to go out together, we were told we might get lost 鈥� I don鈥檛 know if that was right or not.
After a while I was taken ill so I had to go in the hospital (Eastern Infirmary) for a few weeks.
A request was put on the radio to find my family. We did not know if my mother was still in Guernsey or not. A priest from one of the churches heard the message on the radio and went and knocked on some people鈥檚 doors to find out if they lived there. That was in St. Helen鈥檚, Lancashire.She didn鈥檛 have any money so the church people paid her fare. When I woke up from my operation, she was by my bed. She told me that鈥檚 how she found out where we were. We didn鈥檛 know where Dad was till sometime later he was leaving Dunkirk in France when we were leaving home.
In the meantime, my sister wasn鈥檛 well and she had to go back with the teacher to another school hall. I went with her when I was better and we stayed there for a few months.
When it was time to go for a walk with the other children and the teacher, we saw our father waiting on the steps for us. The Army had given him and a friend 24 hours leave to find us. Someone had told them that Guernsey children were in Glasgow. We told the teacher that was our father waiting for us but she said that can鈥檛 be, but it was him. They gave them a meal with us, but we never saw him for a long time after that.
After a while, we left Glasgow to go to St Helen鈥檚 to our mother, aunties and sisters, that had left home with Mum.
When we were on the station, with meeting the other children, we saw our brothers and another sister, It was good to all meet up a gain. They wanted to stay in Scotland as they had good people and homes to live in. We never saw any of our friends or Dad鈥檚 friends and family till we were back in Guernsey.
After leaving school in St Helen鈥檚, I had to go on my birthday for a few months or Mum would have lost five shillings out of her Army pay. That was a lot in those days. I didn鈥檛 like that school on bit, the teachers weren鈥檛 very nice to us.
After a while, we went to work in the factories but I had to keep leaving to stay at home and look after the younger ones that had gone to school. My mother was earning more money in the factory that I did, so she made me stay home to mind the kids.
When my father came home, demob through illness from North Africa, he made her stay home. I was glad to go back to work and make some friends. It was a hard life in those days.
Then the day came. We were all excited. Dad came home first to get a home together, but there was nothing left but a gas oven. So when we came home we were all split again eight down the Vale with one grandmother and my sister and myself with our other grandmother down at Albecq. We were living like that for another 3 months and we didn鈥檛 have any work for a long time. It was good to be home.
It was very rough on the boat coming back, I was sick all the way.
We were so pleased to see our grandmother and uncles waiting for us, but theylooked so thin we didn鈥檛 know them at first. We will never forget those days.

Diana

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