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Introduction

During World War Two Whitehaven on the west coast of Cumberland (now Cumbria) received a large number of evacuees, particularly from the North East of England. In 1940 a young lad by the name of Tom Coyne was one of those evacuees who arrived in Whitehaven wearing a luggage label on his coat. Together with his older brother Bob, Tom was billeted with Jack and Elizabeth Finnegan who lived in a semi-detached house at 52 Ennerdale Terrace in the Seacliffe district of town.

Bob Coyne returned back home to the North East after about a year, while Tom stayed with Mr and Mrs Finnegan until about 1944 or 1945. Although I was born in Whitehaven, it was some years after the war and until recently I had never heard of Mr and Mrs Finnegan.

In 2005 Tom Coyne submitted an article to the ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝ “People’s War” website project entitled ‘American Bomber’ (Article Reference ID A4026836). Tom’s article was mainly about an Allied plane crash he had witnessed close to Mr and Mrs Finnegan’s home on an area known locally as ‘The Kells Brows’.

I had recently submitted articles to the “People’s War” website on behalf of other eyewitnesses to the same plane crash. After a little research I learned a little more about the plane crash that happened in October 1943 and submitted another article to the ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝ “People’s War” site about the plane crash (Article Reference ID A4638819).

In search of old friends

Having made contact with each other about this plane crash, Tom asked if I could assist him in filling in other details about some of the people and places he knew while he was an evacuee. Subsequently, in August 2005, Tom revisited Whitehaven for a few days with his grandson Chris and we met for the first time. I was able to fill Tom in with details about the plane crash he had witnessed, and provide some details of five brave airmen who died in it and I was able to introduce Tom and Chris to one of my uncles, John McCrickett, who had also witnessed the plane crash.

While Tom and Chris were in West Cumbria, it proved impossible to find much information about Mr and Mrs Finnegan, who both died some years ago. Nor did I know any of the other townsfolk Tom told me that he remembered from his time as an evacuee.

However, a few days after Tom and Chris returned home, I realised that I did actually know many of the people Tom had talked about. The reason for the initial confusion was because some of the names had mentioned were not quite correct! I have previously written another article about Tom’s visit in August 2005 (A5071998). Hence I need not repeat the content of that article in this one. However, it was now possible to put Tom in touch with some of my fellow townsfolk who could fill him in with some of the details he was seeking.

Rolling back the years

The result was that Tom was able to return to Whitehaven and meet some of the people he had met during the years he had lived in the town. As Tom is going to write his own articles about his visit, I will only provide a few details.

One of the people Tom managed to visit during his second visit to the town was Joe Toner, a nephew of Mrs Finnegan. Joe and his wife Joan were kind enough to share some memories about Mr and Mrs Finnegan with Tom and provide him with a photograph of Mrs Finnegan, taken only 3 years after the war. I have written a separate article photograph about Tom’s meeting with Joe and Joan Toner.

Another person Tom was able to meet was Maureen Cottier (née Curnow). Maureen was a young girl during World War Two and her family lived on Ennerdale Terrace in those days. Mr and Mrs Curnow had given a home to another young evacuee from the North East called Billy Conlin, who arrived in Whitehaven at the same time as Tom and his brother Bob. As Billy’s own father and mother died while he was an evacuee, Maureen’s parents had formally adopted him and so Billy became her brother. Henceforth Billy was known as Billy Curnow. The family then moved from Ennerdale Terrace straight after the war to the house where Maureen still lives.

After the war, many people used to ask if Maureen and Billy were twins because they looked alike. If someone asked them this, they used to take great delight in telling the questioner they weren’t twins and their birthdays were only five months apart! Maureen showed Tom a lot of photographs of Billy in the years after the war, Billy’s wife and children, and other family members. Unfortunately, Billy had passed away some years ago when he was about 50 years old. However, he is still fondly remembered.

Maureen also explained how families like her own had come to take in evacuees. A request was made at the local Catholic Church, St Mary’s Kells, asking for anyone who could take in any evacuees. The families on Ennerdale Terrace who volunteered for this had all wanted girls. However, Maureen could remember when the bus stopped at the bottom of Ennerdale Terrace opposite Mr and Mrs Finnegan’s, all the evacuees who got off the bus were boys! All the girls had likely been taken in before the bus reached Ennerdale Terrace.

Some things wartime evacuees got up to in Whitehaven

Of course, as it turned out among this little group were Tom, his brother Bob and Billy Conlin. Because of where the bus stopped, Tom and Bob were the first to be allocated, while Billy walked up the road with Mr and Mrs Curnow to their house.

Maureen also mentioned about one occasion during the war when Billy and another evacuee had hung on to the back of a fully-laden lorry at the bottom of what is known locally as ‘New Road’ (it is officially known as ‘Ginns to Kells Road’). In those days young lads, and some girls, wore ‘corkers’ on their feet. ‘Corkers’ (alternatively spelt ‘caulkers’ or ‘caakers’) were basically iron rims under clog soles and at the heel and toe. With this type of footwear you could run and then slide along the ground on the corkers, which was great fun for children. Then, there was this one occasion when Billy and another evacuee hung on to the back of a lorry while it was moving slowly up the ‘New Road’ and they ‘scuddled’ along behind as they were wearing their ‘corkers’.

The other lad lost his grip part way up the road and fell over. Although he wasn’t seriously hurt, the driver must have then realised what had happened and had reported it. Someone had told the police it had been two of the evacuees from Ennerdale Terrace who had been involved. So, a policeman visited the homes of the families with the evacuees, beginning with Mr and Mrs Finnegan. Tom remembered this occasion as well as Maureen. However, as he hadn’t been involved in the incident, the policeman had moved up the road to see Mr and Mrs Curnow and Billy.

When the policeman spoke to Billy about what had happened, he asked Billy had he pushed the other lad that led to him losing his grip, falling off and getting slightly hurt. Billy said he hadn’t pushed him. The policeman also asked Billy if he knew what would happen to people who told lies. The policeman was obviously meaning to get over that people who told lies might go to prison. Billy replied, “Yes sir, they told us that in school. They go to h***” (rhymes with bell!). So, Billy had at least learnt something in the Religious Education class! Apparently, the policeman was most amused and knew this lad was indeed telling the truth.

Maureen and Tom were able to exchange many more wartime memories during their meeting. Maureen explained about all the families who lived on Ennerdale Terrace during the war, and was also able to put Tom in touch with one of his schoolteachers from the war years, a lady who is now in her 80s. More than 60 years after Tom left Whitehaven, the years rolled back as if he had never been away and the time passed quickly.

Conclusion

Tom is going to write more about his wartime experiences and what he has learned during his visits to Whitehaven in 2005. It has been an honour to meet Tom and listen first hand to some of the things that happened to evacuees during World War Two.

Obviously, this article is only a brief summary about a small part of what happened to Tom Coyne, who first came to Whitehaven at barely 5 years old and stayed for virtually the rest of the war. Tom was warmly welcomed to the town when he first arrived in 1940 wearing a luggage tag on his coat. Hopefully, Tom found another warm welcome when he revisited Whitehaven in search of some old friends 60 years after the end of World War Two. I was privileged to listen to Maureen and Tom talk about some of their wartime memories. For them, at least, they were mainly happy times.

Thank you to Maureen and Tom for sharing some of your memories. It was a pleasure and a great honour!

“Welcome back to Whitehaven, Tom!”

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