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This story was submitted to the Peoples's War site by J. Marshall on behalf of Margaret Nisbett and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions

I was 6 years old when the War started and lived in Westcliff-on-Sea. There was a real threat of invasion and by 1940 gradually each school had closed. We were taught informally at home by my sister’s teacher with as many children as could fit into a room and I used to listen in.

All three of us children and our friends were evacuated to Derbyshire but we had no idea where we were going only that we could take 1 toy each. I chose to take my newest doll.

We arrived in Newhall in Derbyshire, a small mining village where we were taken to the village hall. A couple chose myself, my sister and a friend, and my brother and another boy were billeted across the road. We were only there a month but it was completely different from our life at home. They had no bathroom even though the man was a miner — he used to come in from the pit and have a wash in front of the fire. When we needed a bath we were taken to a friend’s house, our carer went in first, then my sister, then the friend and I went in last, all bathing the same water. You can imagine the water was very dirty by the time I got my turn.

My carer was a very kind lady — I used to take my wax doll to bed until it started to melt which she thought was funny even though it must have made a mess. My brother had his birthday while we were there and my mother sent money which the lady spent on making a lovely strawberry tea for all of us.

After a month my mother came to collect all three of us and we went to live in Middlesex as a family and stayed there for the rest of the War with my father working in London. It was assumed because it was away from the coast Middlesex was a safer place than Westcliff but it probably wasn’t because it got more bombing raids!

There were lots of bomb craters which used to fill up with water and ice over in the winter and we used to skate over them. One day I was doing this and the ice broke and I fell into a very deep crater! Somehow my brother and sister managed to drag me home on a sledge but we didn’t tell our mother. It wasn’t until years later when we were talking about it that my mother found out!

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