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A GUERNSEY EVACUEE IN BILLETS IN HALE
[Ronald Eric Gould, born 12/7/1928, was a pupil Les Vauxbelets College, Guernsey, from 1935 — 1942 and was evacuated with the school in June 1940. The following is an edited extract from a typescript he prepared in 2005.]

We all walked from Hale Station to the local Conservative Hall and the Local Womens' Voluntary Service were in attendance, complete with billeting lists and within a short time boys were allocated to homes. I was put together with a boy called Graham Froome and we were taken to an address in Gilbert Road, to a house called "Netherlea" - the home of Mr
Archibald Yearsley and his daugther May. They had requested two Methodists if possible and ended up with one Methodist and one C of E! The WVS lady took us to this home and introduced us and started to take some details. She asked my name and I told her and then she asked my age and I said I was 11 and "Your date of birth?". "7 July" I replied. , "Oh" she said "You are 11 today" and I said, "No I have been 11 for a long time". "Well" she said, "You are 12 today, Happy Birthday!"

Mr Yearsley, who was in his early sixties was a partner in a firm of Chartered Accountants called Trotter, Davies and Yearsley and they had offices in the City of Manchester, in Brazenose Street (opposite the Town Hall). Miss Yearsley was in her early thirties and had been looking after her father since the death of her mother some years before. One of the first things I remember Mr Yearsley asking us was how big Guernsey was - well, at 12 I did not know a lot but I did know that the answer to that was about 25 miles around. "Oh" he said, "Your Island is the same size as the City of Manchester!"

That first Sunday we were told that. we would be going to Chapel that evening after tea, petrol was still available at this time and Mr Yearsley got out this big black Wolseley and the four of us drove right up to Oldham to "Bourne Street Methodist Chapel". Mr Yearsley was a local preacher and this was his home Chapel and when the collection plate came around we were amazed to see him put notes in - not silver or copper - we were used to 1 or 2 coppers.

I remember waking up on the first Monday morning, we were in a lovely sunny bedroom and as anyone who was around in 1940 will remember it was a lovely Summer. We went down to breakfast together, to support each other I suppose, as it was all rather strange. We were told which seats to sit on at the table and we used the same ones every day. I do not remember the breakfast but I do know we did not want for anything.
Mr Yearsley always left early to catch the train to the City and would not return home till after 6.00 pm and would always bring a lot of work home with him.

Miss Yearsley was very kind and showed a lot of interest in us and our families. We had a great deal of freedom the first couple of weeks but we had no money to spend.

Both Graham and I only had a change of underwear and a spare shirt and a jacket or blazer and a pair of short trousers and as anyone knows at 12 years old you are growing by the day and looking at the photos taken soon after our arrival we were busting out of our jackets and trousers, so Miss Yearsley took us both into "Lewis's", the big store in Manchester, and fitted us both up with a new grey suit each. I am sure they paid for this themselves.

We soon found our way down to the River Bollin, it seemed quite a size to us then but having visited it a few times in the last ten years I wonder how it could now end up as only a large stream.

We, Graham and I, together with other schoolmates, used to spend a lot of time down on the river and in the woods. There was no thought in those days of strange men wandering about and we had a lovely time and it was when playing down there in the first two or three weeks that I lost the penknife that my Dad had given me as we left Guernsey. I was very unhappy about that and I could not replace it because we did not have any money.

During the two years we were with the Yearsleys we were sent to Chapel and Sunday School every Sunday at Oxford Road Methodist Chapel. There was a time that I dreaded going for I was going through a spell of homesickness and was feeling very sorry for myself and when the Minister would say "Now let us bow our heads in prayer" I could feel the tears welling up and things got very difficult, but obviously it finally passed. There was no such thing as counselling in those days - you just pulled yourself together and got on with your life.

In between holidays, my life in Hale continued. One way to make some pocket money was to go caddying on Hale's own 9 hole golf course on a Saturday morning. If you were lucky you might get a lady golfer with a small selection of clubs and content with 9 holes, but you could get a gentleman enthusiast with a full set and determined to go around twice and whichever you got, the pay was the same 2/6 - or 12½ p! I was a very small 12 year old so it really could be hard work.

A couple of times Mr Yearsley would take me with him to Manchester to another golf course to caddy for him but r do not know exactly where this was. I also went into the office and was given the job of sticking new labels on brown envelopes so that they could be used again, so helping the War effort. Some of our boys helped to take handles off aluminium kettles and saucepans, all to go to make more and more planes. The Hale "Wings for Victory" week had an objective to raise £175,000 and this would be used to build 4 Lancaster Bombers and 3 Spitfires.

A neighbour across the road had an old bike to sell, I cannot remember how much he wanted but anyway I managed to get it. The only trouble was it had a Sturmey Archer 3 speed and the gear change cable had gone and I could not afford to get it fixed and when riding the bike you had to be very careful at times not to put too much pressure on the pedals or without warning it would slip and I can't tell you how many times I landed on that crossbar and it hurt!

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