大象传媒

Patrick John Harper interviewed by Matt Harvey 15/4/2005
Transcription by John David of a Video recording of the interview.

My sister was fourteen months younger than me, she died a few weeks ago, in England, of cancer. She was in a terrible mess. My brother Brian, I鈥檇 say he鈥檚 about, he鈥檚 about seventy-six, I鈥檇 say, something like that, you know. I鈥檓 going to be seventy-five in May, and Fred, he鈥檚 going to be seventy-eight this month, twentieth of this month. So there was like four of us, now there鈥檚 only three. I was the youngest in the boys, but my sister was the baby, like, the small one, the youngest, like. But she passed away, I鈥檓 afraid, a few weeks ago.
I鈥檒l start off from when I heard the news. At school, at St Andrew鈥檚 school, up there by the Little Chapel 鈥� no, hang on, that鈥檚 where we were living 鈥� anyway, St Andrew鈥檚 school, and they said were going to be sent away to the mainland, so we鈥檙e going to the boat tomorrow. But when we got down there, the boat never turned up. So we had to back again, and we went the following day, like, the day we went back. And off we went to England, and we went to a place which I think was called Eccles, it鈥檚 in Manchester somewhere, somebody says, and we were all together in the Town Hall. But a lot of the children didn鈥檛 leave the island, there was only a few, eh. We all went to the town hall, eh, and we had our lessons and slept on the floor, and we had the siren above us used to go off now and again, and people brought in blankets, and the next thing we got scabies, we think it鈥檚 from the blankets, we think they were dirty. So anyway we went in the hospital and got cured of that, we went back to the Town Hall, and a lot of the kids had been taken away by different families, and we were the last family. Two brothers, my sister and myself, like, we were all taken away to different places, and of course we were very scruffy, we had only the clothes we stood in, we had no luggage like they do today, so therefore we had bad manners, and we went to this woman, she said take my dogs for a walk, there were two little dogs on one lead, like a double, eh, and 鈥淥h, you must wash your hands for all your meals, I thought 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like this鈥�, I was only nine, eh, I wasn鈥檛 quite ten yet, so anyway she didn鈥檛 like it either, so she took me back to the hall, and lo and behold, my brothers and sister was already back! Or they never left, I never asked them.
I鈥檒l tell you what we did do, when we first went, landed in the country, they gave us gas-masks, a bit of string around your neck, in a cardboard box, and we had to carry that everywhere, we were walking along with the kids, and we were all small boys, over the hedge they went, and they all followed with theirs, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want those things鈥� Good job they never had a gas attack, and they didn鈥檛 say to us 鈥淲here鈥檚 your gas-mask gone鈥�. We had no sense, I was only nine, then, eh? I wasn鈥檛 ten yet,

Patrick Harper

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