大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by Valerie Brewer from csvkent on behalf of Patricia Lightfoot telling her deceased mother's story and has been added to this site with her permission. Patricia fully understands the site's terms and conditions"
"At the time of the Dunkirk evacuation mum was working as a teller at Barclays Bank, Ramsgate. There was a constant stream of troops arriving off the boats. They were wet, dishevelled and exhausted and many were wounded. Hot tea was being handed out to them on arrival which they received gratefully, but for many the one thing they wanted was a 'pint'. But most of them only had french currency which had to be changed up, they arrived at the bank in a constant stream, pockets were emptied and sodden wet, salty money was handed over the counter. This couldn't be put in the tills so it was laid to dry everywhere. Mum said every available space was covered in money, desk tops, window sills, filing cabinets everywhere there was wet money. They'd never seen anything like it.
The next thing was to transfer the troops to a safe place as the threat of invasion was very real and the coast was considered unsafe. They had to make their way up a steep hill to Ramsgate Station where trains were waiting to transport them. Many were hardly able to make it.Soon the word spread of the enormity of the situation and help began to arrive, farmers were coming in with tractors and trailers and anything that could be mobilised was. It was an incredible sight.

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