大象传媒

We lived in Derby, near the Rolls Royce Factory. My father decided this was a target and it was arranged that I would be evacuated to the north of the county, to a village near Matlock, Codoner, 'the wilds of North Derbyshire'.

It was a farm, and conditions were pretty basic. We slept in one long room upstairs, the farmer and his wife, their two sons, and us evacuees. There was one tractor in the yard, but it was never working and they had gone back to using horses. We walked across the fields to school. The farm was almost completely self-reliant.

I had a very happy childhood. I wasn't aware of the war. It was as if it never happened. When the time came I was unhappy to come home!

Reproduced by Ipswich Museum with Mrs Vail's permission.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.