大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People's War site by CSV Storygatherer Alison Lear on behalf of Joyce Owens nee Wager. The story has been added to the site with her permission. And Joyce Owens fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

In 1940 I was 11 years old and I was evacuated with my school from Leytonstone, London to Tiverton. I clung to my friend (we were both only children) and vowed to stick together. We thought it a great adventure to come to Devon.

My mother gave me a stamped addressed postcard which I had to send back to her with information about where I was billeted. She wrote back to me saying how lucky I was to be staying in Devon.

She probably thought I would be heartbroken about being away from home (although in reality I was excited) and told me to view it as a great big holiday. She also said I was very fortunate because people usually went to Devon for their honeymoon!

We arrived at Tiverton market and given refreshments and then we had a medical examination and were taken to Cullompton to a local school. We sat on desk seats and waited for someone to pick us. A very kind lady agreed to take both of us plus another child. We stayed with her for 3 years.

At the height of the blitz in London my nan's house was bombed and so Aunty Lisa (the lady looking after me) invited nan to come and stay with us together with a young cousin. My friend's mother also came to stay - it was only a small cottage!

In 1943 I left school and returned to Leytonstone to my parents and found work. The doodlebugs had made an appearance by then and I remember having to dodge them on my way to and from work.

At the end of the war I was working as a receptionist at the Ritz Hotel and I remember going to Buckingham Palace to celebrate VE Day.

When the war was finished in Japan I was visiting Cullompton and took part in the street parties there.

As a postscript I met my future husband while I was an evacuee. He was Cullompton born and bred and was a regular in the Navy during and after the war.

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