大象传媒

Many people will know that during WW2 children were evacuated from London and large towns to what were thought of as safer places. Most of these evacuations were arranged officially, by schools and so on. However some were arranged privately by the families.
My mother was ten years old when the war broke out, and was living in Chislehurst in Kent with her parents. Her paternal grandparents lived in Dewsbury, and her parents decided that it would be safer to get her away from London. It was known that London would be a prime target for enemy bombing, and that Kent would very likely be hit by bombs which were dropped too soon or ditched on the way back.
Her father sent a telegram to his parents to advise them of her arrival and she was put on a train in the care of an older woman travelling alone. She was told that she would be met at Dewsbury station by her grandparents. So all alone, carrying her suitcase, she set out on the long journey north. Imagine her feelings on arriving at Dewsbury station at ten pm to find no one there to meet her! Fortunately she had visitted her grandparents the previous summer, so she knew where they lived. Rather than ask help she found her way to the right bus and made the trip to the house. She arrived safely, to discover that the telegram had never arrived and she was unexpected.
Nowadays people would be horrified to imagine a child making such a journey alone, even in peace time, but it was quite normal at the time for children to be put into the care of the guard or a friendly looking older woman for a solitary journey. And they seem not to have come to harm.
Ironically Dewsbury turned out to be less safe from bombs than Chislehurst!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.