大象传媒

This story has been written onto the People's War site by CSV Storygatherer Alison Lear on behalf of John Brasier. The story has been added to the site with his permission. And John Brasier fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

At the outbreak of the war I was 8 years old. On the 21st July 1940 I was evacuated from Hastings with my 6 year old brother to Aston in Hertfordshire. My main recollection was that there were no flush toilets or hot running water; luxuries I had been used to as a town boy with a father as a plumber.

I was two years in Aston (two billets) and then moved to St. Albans where I had a further two billets. I was living with another boy (not my brother who remained in Aston). In my first school in Aston children were placed in three classes for age range 5-14 so you were still in primary school at school leaving age! I always remember trying to sit in a postion where I wasn't too hot or too cold. There was no central heating, only a big black stove in the middle of the room.

All the boys had an "allotment" at school and I won the prize for the best kept plot. I won 6 tomato plants. The girls' activity was "make do and mend".

In September the schools closed for a week for potato harvesting. A lunchtime treat was a baked potato but no fillings! It was great fun.

I went back to Hastings in 1943 having persuaded my mother to take me home. I had not enjoyed the school at St. Albans where I had won a scholarship. My father was away in the army at the time although he was later discharged on medical grounds.

I remember the street parties at the end of the war in Hastings.

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