大象传媒

PAT BARRY 鈥� EVACUEE

I can remember going to school one morning and being told I was going on holiday for a few weeks and was given a small suit case. As I got on the bus with a lot more children I was given a box with a long string and we were told this was a gas mask and was told how to put it on and how funny we all looked but at first it was so hard to breath and the little window got all steamed up, and I couldn鈥檛 see, it was very frightening until we got used to it.

Next thing I remember was being taken to a big house with my friend Jean and a big funny lady who spoke funny (well to us she did) took us into a big room with lots of big furniture. We weren鈥檛 allowed to sit but had to stand while this funny lady spoke to our teacher who had taken us there, then I can remember our teacher friend left us and this funny lady took us into a big kitchen 鈥� every time Jean and myself sat at this big table on big stools I always had my legs wrapped around the stool legs and it took me longer to get down after we had eaten and when this happened Mrs North, that was this funny woman鈥檚 name, told me I had been naughty and used to put me in this big greenhouse and was made to sit on a little stool and I could see these things with funny backs crawling ever so slowly, I was terrified when she left me for what seemed to be hours; later I learnt these things were tortoises, something I鈥檇 never seen before. Another thing Mrs North did was if Jean and myself had been naughty, we would be put to bed in a big room with 2 small beds and in the corner was a cupboard and it had a lamp on it with half of its bulb painted blue and she used to turn It to the blue side, which made the room seem scary. I wanted my Mam and Auntie Rose.

I once saw some big gates in the garden and there was a little door in one of them and I used to try this little door every time we were allowed to play in the garden; one day it opened and off I went to find my Mam and I thought I鈥檇 run for miles and miles. In fact I鈥檇 only got as far as the shop across the road. The next thing I remember was Mrs North was there again, taking me to the green house again. Some time later, another lady arrived and took me away to another house, a lot like my Mam鈥檚 house and I was told then I was to call her Auntie Milly and this nice man (who was her husband), Uncle Ernie. I felt so happy, she used to play the piano every night and we used to sing, 鈥榃hite Cliffs of Dover鈥� 鈥� 鈥業t鈥檚 a long way to Tipperary鈥� 鈥� Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye鈥� and 鈥楿nder the spreading Chestnut Tree鈥�. Auntie Milly was a lovely lady, just like my Mam. I never saw Mrs North again and from that day to this, I never saw my friend Jean Rankin again. I wonder where she finished up. One night I can remember being woken up and taken downstairs by my Auntie, she gave me my box with the gas mask in and a blanket and I was taken to sit under the stairs and it was very dark. All I could hear were bangs and the walls shaking. Not long after that, another night, I was taken up the garden path and into a funny shaped shed and at the bottom of these steps were a little table with a candle on it on one side was a little bed and the other side of the table were a big chair. I was told we were in an air raid shelter and we would be safe from the bombs. But I thought it was a game and once gain I was happy and felt safe with my Auntie Millie and Uncle Ernie. I also remember Mr and Mrs Autherson, Auntie Millie鈥檚 Mum and Dad. They were always giving tea parties for me and my friends. They had a lovely garden with big yellow flowers growing and I used to love touching them they were daffodils but I鈥檇 never see the like before. About this time, I can remember some other children came to live in Hamilton Street, there was a big girl and her 2 brothers, they were evacuees from London. The girl used to be cruel to all us little ones and because she knew I loved the daffodils, she made me pull them all up; and Mr Autherson caught me and all this big girl did was laugh. When I was taken into the house and given a smack, I thought I鈥檇 be put in the greenhouse again (but there wasn鈥檛 one there). Auntie Millie took me back to her house and I was told there would be no music for a week and was sent to bed early for the same time a whole week. I wasn鈥檛 allowed to see that horrible family again.

My best memory and a very happy one too, lasted me for the rest of my childhood, right up to me getting married. That was one of the weekends my Mam came to see me. She brought a little man with her (really, he wasn鈥檛 quite as big her) and told me he was going to be my Dad. I was so happy; I鈥檇 only ever had my Mam, Auntie Edna and Uncle George, Uncle Dennis and my Granddad, never a dad. Later I was brought back to Nottingham and I can remember going into this smelly place (it was a little pub in Trinity Square), and seeing all these people and my new dad kept saying this is your Auntie and this is your Uncle lots of times; actually he came from a family of about 8 and all these people were his brothers and sisters and family; but of course I didn鈥檛 know that at the time.

I can remember the street parties for VE and VJ Day; but by that time I was back in Nottingham living with my Mam and new Dad. I used to go back to Worksop, to see my Auntie and Uncle often, after the war had ended.

Just before VE Day I came back home after being an evacuee and went to live with my Mam and new Dad in my Aunt鈥檚 house in Charlbury Road. There I made friends with Diana Davis, who lived opposite and June Astbury, who lived on Radford Bridge Road. We all attended Cottesmore School and eventually we were known as THEM THREE, if every there was any trouble, we were always to blame. Miss Bromhead was the first headmistress I knew, such a nice gentle person. Then came Miss Walters, I think everyone in our year was frightened of her, she had such a domineering presence. I can remember myself, Diana and June standing in her room, hands outstretched waiting for a rap on the knuckles with a ruler, what we had done I can鈥檛 remember may have been caught running round the quadrangle, talking in assembly but it hurt. Mrs Wilson and Mrs Seaman were another 2 teachers. One teacher in particular Miss Raine the music teacher WAS such a tiny little person, always seem to be dressed in brown she reminded us of a little sparrow. But the worst teacher Miss Salvansky the Gym teacher, dragging us over the horse or yelling at us getting up the wall bars or even climbing the ropes in the Gym. But the worst memory for me was the very first visit to Radford Baths I sat on the edge and most of the kids jumped in except for 2 or 3 of us. I was terrified and Miss Sal came up and put her foot in the middle of my back and pushed me in. I really thought I was going to die. I had to struggle out myself and there she stood laughing at me. I never went to the baths again and even today that fear of drowning is always with me.

After the war my uncle came home from the Navy so we moved up to Pine Terrace in Radford and there I made good friends with Brenda Pearson and Renee Buttress, Ray Anderson and his sister Mavis and Trevor who lived next door to Roy. All of them went to the Boulevard School, but I somehow still went to Cottesmore. I was then known by a few other kids as a snob because I went to Cotto and I also had a real leather school satchel. Then I went to the Stockwin School of music in Regent Street and my dad bought me a real leather music case. Yes I did feel good but I had my friends Brenda and Renee.

I can remember prefab huts being built in the School yard and it was when I moved into one of those huts I sat next to a girl called Lorna Bennet. She was to become my best friend ever. Her arithmetic was brilliant, so my maths improved over night; my history and geography were good so hers improved the same overnight. Oh yes we copied each other and we got away with it. On one of my school reports Midsummer 1947 Special Success during Term, it reads winning member of intermediate Relay Team at City Sports and 3rd in 80-yds Flat Race, was I proud that day and later on in that week a photo appeared in the 鈥淧ost鈥� anyone recognize themselves. That was when all the schools in Nottingham competed against each other and well yes after that I did feel pretty good about myself. After that I took part in a lot of sport - netball, hockey, high jump, hurdling and in my last year I was elected Sports Captain of the school I enjoyed picking girls out and putting their names on the notice board organizing after school activities. I really did come into my own then, 鈥楽nob of course鈥�. Unfortunately my friend Lorna died some years ago but Diana Davis, June Astbury, Brenda Pearson, Renee Buttress, Ray Anderson, Robert Hardstaff, Barry Jones, Barry Smith, all Radford Boulevard, the last few anyway, Iris and Mavis Allen twins from Ilkeston, Barbara Chadburn.

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