大象传媒

I was 5 years old in 1944 and was evacuated from Hanwell in South London to Penrecweiber in the Rhondda valley in South Wales, with my 14 year sister and 9 year old brother. I think we were evacuated because the dooodle bugs had started. I can only remember small snippets but remeber arriving in a coach at the school at the end of the road I was to live in. I arrived clutching my big brown teddy my aunt had searched the whole of London for my 5th birthday. We walked along the street and I remeber standing at the end of a long path looking up at the house with a lady standing there saying I told you I wanted two boys not two girls. Anyway she took my sister and I in and my brother went further along the road. We liked our family but my brother was not too happy as he was made to wash out the back with cold water. We had a great time in Wales with a mountain at the back where we often roamed. Very different from our council estate in London. My first day at school was traumatic and I remember being dragged through the classrooms screaming for my sister. At night we would play in the back alley with the welsh families. My parentws came down once and took us to the amusement park in Porthcawl. We were only there a few months but it made an indelible impression on me.

I returned to find the house in the 70s and found both the house and school just as I remembered. It was a very run down area much as it was in the war. I was very upset by the Aberfan disaster and sat in tears in front of the television thinking that some of those children's parents may have been the children I lived with in the war. Aberfan is in the next valley to Penrecweiber.

I returned again this summer and again found the house and the school. With the closure of the coal mines the area was much less run down. The whole experience left a lasting impression on me and everytime I see pictures of evacuees on TV it takes me back to the time I spent in Wales.

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