大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War website by Danny a pupil from Teversham Primary School on behalf of Terry Osborne and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Osborne fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

One evacuee, John (Chick) Freed who was evacuated to Cambridgeshire was sent to Knapwell with his two younger brothers and a group of evacuees to be allocated to families in the area.

After Islington, London, he could not believe there was anywhere like the countryside in Cambridgeshire.

In that September 1939 at the age of 10 years old he saw his first tractor. From there he and his brothers were lodged in Elsworth, the next village with a Mr and Mrs Parnell, a newly married couple, who were very good to the boys. One of the first meals the boys had was Yorkshire pudding with gravy. On being asked what he thought of it he replied, trying to be polite, it was the best meal he had ever had and was full. Little did he know that there were two other courses so he was not offered any of these because Mrs Parnell thought he could not eat any more. John (Chick) never made this mistake again. John moved about a bit, being a bit of a rascal (his words, not mine).

In 1945 he came to live in Toft and lived with Mr and Mrs Chris Collett in Brookside. He worked for Mr Bert Tebbit on the farm for a few years and went on to become a welder at Marshalls Airport. One evacuee who never went back.

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