大象传媒

As a little girl of seven I was one of the thousands of children who had to leave their parents and home as an evacuee to be taken out of the danger of air raids duringthe Blitz. Most of the families who took in children would only take one and so sisters, brothers, and cousins were separated and isolated by evacuation. Being an only child it was my cousins and friends who I missed and, of course, my parents.

Such separation is always very painful but I was more fortunate than many in being able to go to an aunt in Hayfield, a small village then, in Derbyshire. FRom my bedroom window I looked out to the famous Kinder Scout pass - a very different view from my bedroom window at home off Oxford Road, Manchester. I attended a small school in New Mills. As far as I can recollect there were about 50 pupils and 4 staff. It was such a change from the city to be in a lovely scenic village. I am still in touch with a cousin from Hayfield who is now 80yrs old.

During my period of evauation my mother would visit me every fortnight, bringing me fresh supplies of Enid BLyton's 'Sunny Stories'. My parents decided to have me at home for Christmas 1940, which turned out to be unfortunate as Christmas was greeted with a blitz on Manchester. I got up on Christmas morning excited to see what Santa had left me, which was a doll's pram with a baby doll inside it. Imagine how I felt when I saw that my doll had had her eyes blown out by the blast from a nearby bomb! However, she was my first 'baby' and I loved her all the more for her disability and kept her for many years. It was back to Hayfield on Boxing DAy, though, and a return to being linked through radio programmes such as SAndy MacPherson's request show with messages from home. How many tears were shed by listeners to that programme, young and old?

I stood at our local cenotaph, last Sunday, and was proud to do so, once more finding myself journeying down memory lane to the 1939-44 days of air, raids, evacuation and bombed dolls. I am now 71yrs of age and have brought up 11 real babies and I thank God that they haven't had to experience the horrible and devastating horrors of war and I pray that children of future generations will never know the terrible tragedies and separation that war brings.

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