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Children living in an area that was likely to be bombed were evacuated to a safer area and they were known as ‘evacuees’. Despite the fact that we were in an area like that we had ‘evacuees’, staying with us.

At first we had two girls who shared a double bed in our spare bedroom. Later when they left school, three boys replaced them at a time. We were asked to take the boys as many houses would only take girls.

The ‘evacuees’ came from Gosport County High School and they used a new school that had just been finished before the war. They were the first occupants of North End School, now the Fire Service Headquarters. In all we had two girls and twelve boys as ‘evacuees.

My grandmother used to walk from her house in Winchester Road, Shirley to Castle Lane in Romsey and sleep under the trees each night and go back home in the morning to avoid the bombing in case her house was hit. She would have a hot drink in a thermos flask and blankets.

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