大象传媒

I was evacuated from Portsmouth with the Junior Technical School in the Autumn term of 1942. I lived in 3, Cecil Terrace with Mrs Cutler and her son who must have been about four years old. Her husband was in the army. There were four other evacuees in Cecil Terrace, Gerald Webb who was also billeted at Mrs. Cutler`s, Adrian Mabbs, Joe Morton and Bert Prior.
To get to school we walked along Lower Road which in those days was bordered on the north side by the railway and on the southern by nothing but meadows until you got nearly to the station where there were some terraced houses. We used to play knock and run!
School took place in the mornings in either the church in Milford street or the one in Brown street, in whose hall we also had lunch. In the afternoon we had classes at Bishop Wordsworth School which had turned part of its playing field into a Dig for Victory site and we had to work there as part of our lessons.
We were happy at Mrs Cutler`s. She looked after us and fed us well. She didn`t dig for victory but she ironed clothes for the American soldiers stationed nearby, so perhaps they were able to let her have a little extra tea, sugar and butter etc to feed two growing twelve year olds. My mother came to visit once and told Mrs. Cutler that she was free to discipline me in any way necessary. She was very good at catching Gerald and me smoking out of our bedroom window!
When we weren`t at school we enjoyed ourselves playing football and cricket, scrumping in Squarey`s orchard and swimming in the river. One time we had gone over Broken Bridges to swim with only one costume and towel between us. The farmer drove up and told us to get out. The only problem was that his wife was in the car too so we had to get out one by one, throwing the costume back to the next boy when we had dressed. The wife was highly amused! One day we went to the Salisbury races to earn some money. We cleared glasses because there weren`t enough which brought us tips - but the Americans used to pay us to leave their glasses.
Some boys went home to Portsmouth by train (though a few even cycled all the way) at the weekend. We had music as the last lesson on a Friday afternoon and the teacher would keep us in until we sang whatever the piece was absolutely perfectly. We tried our hardest and, with the train leaving at 5.05, when he was finally satisfied and let us go, there was a mad stampede for the station; I think that on one occasion a lady was pushed over. When we travelled en masse at the end of the term or the beginning of the next we boys had to sit in the back of the train while the girls from Portsmouth Secondary School sat in the front and the teachers in the middle to ensure no contact!
Because there were many of us from our school in the village and because we did go home from time to time and also because Mrs Cutler was good to us I wasn`t homesick.
It was not until I sat down and thought about it that I began to appreciate the time and trouble that the people of Bemerton took in making my stay as an evacuee as happy as possible, considering the hardships that they too were going through. For that I shall always be grateful.

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