大象传媒

The first evacuation is rather blur. My sister and I went to Essex and distant relaatives. They were farm workers living in a small, dark cottage which would today be described as quaint. My uncle was a kindly man who had time for me but I can remember nothing of aunt except I always seemed to be in trouble and being told off. My sister returned home before me. On the way to school one day a "lost" Germain aircraft took aim at the children. Shortly after this I returned home - that being deemed the safer place.

My second time away I can remember much more clearly. My Father took me by bus to London,after he had bus stopped under Big Ben and it chimed either 5 or 6o'clock. It was rather frightening - it looked so tall in the later afternoon/early evening dark light. At the London terminus station I was placed in charge of the Guard on the Sheffiled train and it seemed ages before we finally arrived, after a long, slow journey in the guard's van. I was met by my "cousin", her father, my "uncle" and her brother my "cousin", it was very dark in the early hours of the morning and they were all strangers to me. We drove home in a car. It was a small village and the house much bigger and grander than my terraced home. It stood facing the moor. In time I went to the village school and on the way we passed a house with a vicious little dog, who did one day actually nip my ankle. It took me ages to like little dogs again. My Aunt was an invalid and it is no wonder my "cousin" resented the extra work a little girl entailed. Frequently I was slapped and because I snored I was not allowed into the specially built shelter. This was entered by a small tunnel from the living room - wide and high enough for my Aunt's bed to be wheeled through. I slept in the living room under a specially reinforced table, not made for me but for the family's use during the day. If I snored in the night my "cousin" would throw a shoe at me. It seemed I was there for the duration of the war but Sheffield was bombed and Mum came to fetch me. I can remember being in a taxi near Sheffiled station and the road, in pockets, was still alight and smouldering from the raids. There is a P.S. to this story. Years later, married and with 2 girls of my own, my Husband took me to try and find these relatives. My Aunt had died by then. We found the village, the shcool and the moors but I was not sure about the house. There did not appear to be a Telephone Box so we went to the next village where a lady was in her garden. She kindly looked in her telephone directory but could not find them. Recounting this to my sister some time later she told mehow fortunate it was that we had failed to find them. My Aunt was my Mother's sister but she was housekeeper to my "uncle's" faimily when his wife died. He could not live in the small village with an attractive housekeeper so he married my Aunt but in name only so that she could continue to look after them. When she became ill they looked after her. My "cousin" resented this: her father and brother did not.

The longesst evacuation was the last and was for just one year. A friend and I went to Monmouthshire, to Andy's parents - a soldier who had used our house as his home. Hif father and 2 brothers worked in the Steel Mills and were on war work so were not "called up". The house was one of a curved streetof similar houses and the backs opened on the fields where, in summer, we slid down the hill on trays or pieces of cardboard, anything we could get our hands, or bottoms, on. The trays were the best but had to be sneaked out of the house. We, the females. always had to use the carbolic soap first as the men did not like the harsh edges; once we had worn it in they would use it. It was not a rich community and one of the brothers used to polish a pair of Wellington boots and keep them for going out - they certainly shone. His mother did not like this and said he should not spend so much money on his wife. On Saturdays my friend and I were sent down the hill to the market for either tripe and onions or faggots - both of which I hated. The tripe was mixed with cubed potatoes and covered in gravy so you did not know which you were eating. Horrid. The school was also in the valley and was a Church school where we learnt the scriptures. A priest or vicar came in every week to test us - a scarey time. It was during the winter that, because I was chesty, I was fored to wear a brown paper vest covered in goose grease and I was not allowed to bath. I must have stunk to high heaven. Also to keep me fit and well, every week I had a glass of elderflower medicine - the flowers gathered in the summer and dried and put in to a glass of hot water. All the bits and pieces floated on the top and it tasted vile but had to be drunk... This was all done because the only daughter had died t a young age of bronchitis. When I had black shoes I wore brown stockings and visa versa. Why, I do not know but it always seemed peculiar. Also in the winter I had to wear a fur pixie hood, scarf and gloves etc. and to get home from school without roasting I would take them off and carry them, putting them back on at the bottom of the street. Someone split on me about this so I had to wear them, coat undone until nearer home. My friend went home a while before me, then one day I came home from school and Mum was there. It was lovely. A warm spring day. She took one look at me in winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves and took the lot off. When she discovered the brown paper vest, she took that off and bathed me, dressed me in shorts and a little striped, zipped top which she had bought for me. Poor "auntie" cried and said she would kill me. Mum left me ther for a further week or two them came back and collected me. Aunty felt she had failed me but she had done no such thing, she was just being over protective. One lovely memory of this time in Monmouthshire is after Chapel Sunday evenings. I went to the Chapel 3 times each Sunday and still have a little New Testament presented to me. After evening service we would go to a house across the street and sing sacred songs and hymns, accompanied on the piano. They were kind people and gave us tea and cakes etc. The daughter of the house had a beautiful voice and sang solos. Grandma was in bed in the room and would frequently ask for a spiecial hymn. The Old Rugged Cross was a great favourite.

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