大象传媒

I was nine years old when the war started, my name then was Georgina Hearn and I lived at 303 Chapter Road. London NW2

I was evacuated to Kingsthorpe, near Northampton on Friday 1st September 1939 (it was very exciting for a nine year old. When we arrived we were taken to a school where we were given a carrier bag, containing a tin of corned beef, cream crackers and the thing I remember most all a large bar of Cadbury's milk chocolate. This was to ensure we had something to eat if our hosts had not enough provisions for the weekend. We were taken from the school and walked the streets, women were standing on their doorsteps and picked which ones of us they wanted. Looking back it was like a slave market.

I only stayed away for eleven weeks because when my parents came to visit they were horrified at my condition -- my hair had not been washed and I had not had a bath. The day they came was November 5th. I was playing in the street with a friend, we had daubed soot on our faces. My coat was torn and I must have looked like a street urchin. We went back to Mrs Freeman's ( the woman who chose me) House and my mother gave me a bath, washed my hair and cut my nails. When I went to school on Monday morning my teacher said "I can see that your Mummy has visited you" On the Tuesday my dad came and took me back to London. There was no school for about a year, and my Parents taught me. Then the council opened one large school and all the returned evacuees went there. Later more schools opened and I went to one nearer home. From there I passed the scholarship and went to Brondsbury and Kilburn High School, which was a bus ride away. Whilst there the Blitz started. So we only went to school once a week and collected enough work to keep us busy for the week. Life was mostly lived in the air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden -- Dad had made it quite comfortable. We had a primus stove in there and my Mother used to make porridge and tea on it. The main railway line ran at the end of the garden and an Ack Ack Gun used to run along the lines so if we looked out of the shelter it was like a firework display. In the day time we often watched Spitfires in dog fights and cheered loudly when we saw a German plane shot down. My Mother was a very good cook and managed to feed us very well despite rationing. But when I look back I realise she must have performed miracles.
My next memories are of the V1s, or Buzz bombs. They were really frightening you could see and hear them, when the noise stopped you knew it was coming down, and you prayed it would miss you. Fortunately they did not hit us. The house next door to us had been bombed and we kept Chicken and Geese on the bombsite. It was my job to feed them and collect the eggs. When the V2 rockets started coming there were all sorts of rumours about the explosions. One was that the Cherry Blossom Boot Polish factory had blown up. No one seemed to know any thing about these bombs and there were no announcements. Eventually the war with Germany ended. I was coming home form school and some people had hung out flags. That evening it was announced that the next day would be VE (victory in Europe) day. In the evening everybody came out into the street. Someone brought out a piano, so we had music, bonfire were lit and food and drink appeared. The part went on until about 4am. I danced so much that I wore holes in my shoes. It was a terrible time but people helped and cared for one another. If only that spirit still prevailed.

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