大象传媒

I must admit that mine is not good, but one lady in Bowburn can remember exactly what she was doing and where she was on the first day of September 1939.

How many of you know what an evacuee was? Lily Schofield (or Lily Gate as she was then) knows, because that is what she was when she first came to Bowburn on the first of September 1939.

She came from Welbeck Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. At that time the children were moved from the dangerous areas on the coast, away from bombs, to what was classed as a "safer area." The three Gates' children, thirteen year old Ronnie, Lily at eleven and Joe who was just seven, along with many others in the same circumstance, left Newcastle by train. Their first destination was Sherburn where they collected food parcels containing corned beef, sugar, tea, biscuits, etc, which was to help feed the children when families were found who would privode them with safety, a home and hopefully lots of loving care. Remember, these were small children who were leaving home for the very first time.

After leaving Sherburn, they came to Bowburn. The children were lined up in the hall of Bowburn school and stood in a line just like little orphans, with a name tag around their neck, a gas mask over their shoulder and their personal belongings in a pillow case. The children had to stand in a line to await a family choosing them; this must have been very bewildering for these small children. The two brothers were chosen by Mr and Mrs Fishburn, Lily should have been taken by Mrs Hughes but, sadly, she had been taken ill. She thought no-one wanted her and sobbing, she pleased with her brothers not to leave her on her own. The evacuee officer asked the Fishburns to take her until other arrangements could be made. Lily had been in a Gosforth home for crippled children, she had rickets and wore callipers on her legs until she was ten years old. These were the days when food was scarce and malnutrition was frequent in the tiny children.

The home she went into was in Tweedle Terrace. It was luxury, compared to what she had known, hot water and a bathroom, whereas all they had known was a zinc bath and they had had to boil all their water on a coal fire. On the third of September a nephew named Roland Brown on leave from the R.A.F., took the children for a walk to Shincliffe. On the way back, the air raid siren almost frightened the life out of them, this was the declaration of war between England and Germany. Sadly, young Roland Brown was later killed on duty. Lily later left this home and went to live with the Parkinson family. The children had to practice putting on their gas masks and running to the air raid shelter at the bottom of the school field, as quickly as possible.

Another change was due for Lily, she had to move to yet another family but, this time, to another branch of the Parkinson's in Ash Terrace. This new home had no bathroom or running water but they were very good to Lily and she really did feel part of a loving family. She never returned to Newcastle ot to her parents, as she discovered they never had any love for her. However, she was given lots of love and devotion by her aunt Jane and in return Lily gave her love wholeheartedly to the lady who was more than a mother to her.

She continued living in the village during the war, as a schoolgirl and then as a young woman. She was 16 years old when the war finished and was working in West Auckland. Later she married and had two daughters and much later bought and ran the local fish shop. After eighteen years in the fish shop, Lily and her husband retired but, not long after, Lily was sadly widowed.

She still lives here remembering very vividly the pain and heartache she went through as a child, but she participates in many of the local activities for the senior citizen and enjoys life to the full. You know she is there when you hear her hearty laughter and she has a delightful singing voice which, until lately she used to entertain older people in surrounding villages.

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