大象传媒

After arriving in Glasgow from Guernsey we were taken to a Church Hall and we stayed there for about a week or so. We slept on camp beds and were looked after by very kind ladies, aided by our own teachers.
One evening, just as we were going to sleep, we were called from our beds by our Headmistress, Miss Ida Naftel, to see a lady and gentleman who had decided to give a home to one or two evacuees. We chatted for a few minutes and they went away. We then went back to sleep,

A few days later, the gentleman came on his own. He was wearing a bowler hat and suit and looked very strict. Some children had already teased us by saying that they thought he drank. We were a bit frightened. How wrong could they be. He and his wife, whom we called Uncle and Auntie, were strict teetotallers and very religious. Their names were Alec and Agnes Scott.
We went on the bus to Paisley and sat across from him. When we arrived at the house, which was called "Roseneath", the lady opened the door and greeted us with a big smile. She said "Welcome to our house. We want you to treat it as your own home", I piped up "We will wash and dry your dishes every day." We started then and did the breakfast and tea dishes every day
from then on.

Auntie was a retired English teacher - they didn't allow married lady teachers in those days - and Uncle was a maths teacher. All their families were professional people. Aunties's sister was a doctor in Glasgow, her father a Minister. One of Uncle's brothers was a Bank Manager and another one worked for J. & P. Coats, the famous thread manufacturers. Uncle was an Elder of the Church we attended every Sunday morning, with Sunday School every Sunday afternoon. In the evening, we went to various local Churches. Occasionally we went to the wonderful Paisley Abbey, and the beautiful Coats Memorial Chapel, which had an unusual fragrant woody smell.

On the Sunday we were not allowed to play games or do anything else, except read religious books. I can remember having a hole in my white: glove but I was not allowed to mend it. One day, greatly daring, we bought an icecream from the Italian shop on our way to Sunday School!!

When we first arrived in Paisley, we had only summer clothes and were not at all prepared for the Scottish winters or for school. Auntie and Uncle asked us if we would like to go to the school attended by their niece: and nephew, Margaret and Willie Scot, the Paisley Grammar School, or a. school attended by Margaret's cousin. We chose the former and the relations set to and provided us with all our uniform, winter and summer. We had gabardines, blazers, woollen winter coats, hats (like bowlers) and panamas, We had our own shoes, soon outgrown, and I can remember my long feet hurting.

Aunt and Uncle bought us raincapes, pale green for one of us and darker green for the other, with little hoods. We had summer dresses for school - two each - and white blouses to wear with our gym tunics. To our horror, we were made to wear combinations. These old-fashioned garments were very necessary for the cold winters ahead but we didn't know that at first. Auntie cut up a burgundy velvet dress of her own and made us a dress each with pretty lace collars for Sundays and high days.
We had no toys with us but were soon given old and much-loved dolls by various people. Pamela was always fond of babies and Uncle made her a "pram" out of a wooden box on wheels with one handle at the side.

The house we lived in was very large and had a wonderful garden. Soon after our arrival it was necessary to "Dig for Britain" and lawns were dug up and vegetables planted all over the place. I can always remember we had a home-made soup every day for lunch and the smell of parsley brings these meals back to me. Pamela and I slept upstairs and were rather indignant to find a waterproof sheet on the double mattress. Even though it was soon known that we didn't wet the bed, the sheet was there all the time we were in Scotland. There was, of course, no heat at all in the room and we regularly wiped the frost off the windows.

Everyone was very kind to us - the Scots are incredibly generous really - and on Sundays we were given a half-a-crown by one of Uncle's brothers - Uncle Willie. We were given bibles and other books. I well remember being given a pile of books all about little children whose fathers drank alcohol and the little children tried to drag them away from the Public Houses. The little children usually came to a very sad end. These were not the kind of books I would normally choose and I was delighted to find that "Roseneath" housed dozens and dozens of grown-up books which I soon tucked into. I remember reading "Pride and Prejudice" at the age of about ten.

We took to school very well, although we were in separate classes. In Guernsey, I was in the same class as Pamela. We learned very good English grammar and it has stood us in good stead all our lives. We made many friends there. We always walked to school and back morning and afternoon. Uncle taught at Camphill School. He used to use a strap when pupils were naughty - the discipline was fierce in all schools then - and one lunchtime Pamela and I took his strap from his pocket and hid it. You can imagine his surprise when he put his hand in his pocket that afternoon in order to chastise a wayward pupil and found nothing!

Aunt and Uncle had had no children although they had many nephews and nieces. They did have some strange ideas about children. For instance, although Pamela and I were just ten and nine respectively, we did our own clothes washing. There was an outside wash-house and we diligently scrubbed our vests, pants etc. on a washboard. I don't remember ironing anything - probably that was regarded as too dangerous. We did a lot of the shopping too on a Saturday morning and joined any queue we saw in case there was something worth having. Although Auntie had a cleaner, Mrs. Fraser, we also did some cleaning!

One Saturday morning we arrived home with the shopping to find Auntie and Uncle waiting for us, grim-faced. Apparently we had left a light on upstairs. That was a very serious matter. How things have changed!!

We did a lot of entertaining for high teas and, together with Uncle who was very funny, we would sing and dance for our guests. With Uncle we would sing "Nursie, come over here and hold my hand" and Pamela and I would sing "Soldier, Soldier" and a very sentimental "Christopher Robin is saying his prayers". We used to jump on Uncle when he was sitting in his armchair and he was really very good-natured in that respect.

When we went to visit other people, Pamela and I would always wash the tea dishes. Thinking back, some of our hostesses must have been very brave to let us loose on their best china.

The first Christmas we were there, we had some lovely presents - small by today's standards but really thoughtful, especially as the Scots don't really celebrate Christmas as we do. I remember one of my favourite presents was an angora scarf which I kept for many, many years. Another wonderful present was a pink square box, about eight inches high, containing stationery. On the outside of the box were pictures of Cinderella and a clock. With this cardboard clock, Pamela painstakingly taught me to tell the time. Up until then I never bothered with time. Children were told when to go to bed and when to get up, go to school etc. in those days.

During this time, Paisley experienced many air-raids as we were quite close to Glasgow. Uncle was an air-raid warden and also he did duty on the Clyde River Patrol. We used to go under the stairs on a mattress with Auntie until the All-Clear. Just before we left Scotland, a Morrison shelter was purchased which was placed in the downstairs dining room which was then used as a bedroom. Auntie's mattress was put on top. The shelter was a bit like a chicken coop. We left Scotland before ever using it in earnest.

Around this time there were several cases of diphtheria around and it was decided that schoolchildren should be immunised. Pamela and I were among those children. Now, Pamela had been very, very ill with diphtheria a year or so before the war and I had been immunised at that time. I fully believe, with hindsight, that this immunisation was one of the causes of Pamela's terrible illness soon after. We had protested against being immunised but to no avail. Even though we wrote to my mother in Basingstoke regularly, we were not able to stop this happening in time.

Pamela became very ill with a fever and was confined to bed for three months. She was so frail and thin and Aunt and Uncle called in three doctors in the end. At last she was given M & B. tablets, then rather new, and she made a slow recovery. At first, Pamela was carried down to the shelter under the stairs but, at the end, she was too ill to be moved and she was left upstairs with pillows propped around her.

Once, I came home from school and Pamela wanted to see the tadpoles in our room. I took them over to her and she dropped them on the blanket. We had to quickly scoop them back in the jar.

We were lucky enough to be sent to the seaside town of Largs to stay with a lady who was a soloist in our church. She had a wonderful contralto voice and she sang in the famous Glasgow Orpheus Choir. Every morning she practised her scales.

It was great to see the sea again, although I remember it was freezing cold. The kind lady's niece also holidayed with us and we all took it in turns to sleep upstairs in the attic with the Housekeeper/Cook. This lady had had the privilege of cooking once for Winston Churchill. I remember she did a Queen's Pudding for the Sunday lunch. What bliss!

We were taken once to see "Peter Pan" being staged in Glasgow. I remember the actress Barbara Mullen (later of Dr. Finlay fame) flying across the stage as Peter Pan. I couldn't believe my eyes! Really flying! I almost began to believe in fairies again. The villain was the wonderful Alistair Sym. We also were taken to Glasgow to see the Orpheus Choir's "Mikado" - really exciting.

We visited various places which could be reached by train, and included were Callendar, and Lennoxtown where one of the relatives was the Bank Manager. The day we visited, we climbed the hills - mountains to our eyes - and the mist came down and we had great difficulty in finding our way back.

We were taken to the pictures regularly, sometimes to rather scary cowboy and Indian films. I was always looking under the bath and in corners at that time as I was very frightened of the Indians.

Although Pamela and I missed our parents and our brother Ronald, at that time in Hale, Cheshire with the Vauxbelets College, we really settled down very well and soon developed Scottish accents. Children are amazingly resilient, although Pamela and I were very lucky not to have been parted. Despite Pamela's frail figure, she was still my big sister and, amongst other things, it was she who tied my tie at school. It took me a long time to get the hang of that operation.

Aunt and Uncle were paying for us at the Grammar School but, as there were two other Guernsey girls there, the School decided to give the four of us free education which was very kind.

My mother had come up from Basingstoke to live with her eldest sister Hilda and her husband Jack Parsons in Bradford. She had been ill and her sister decided that she should have her children with her. It was therefore decided that Pamela and I should leave Scotland and go and live with our mother. \'/e knew nothing of these arrangements until a decision had been made and, although we were very excited at the thought of seeing our mother, we felt sad at leaving Scotland after two years.

Aunt and Uncle took us on the train and then went on for a short holiday in Harrogate. Looking back now, it was a very big upheaval for them to take on two young children, having never had their own. We stayed in touch for years until first Uncle and then Aunt died at a good age.

Jean Taylor and Pamela Gavey

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