大象传媒

"The story was submitted by Philip Schofield of KCC Education and Archives, on behalf of Alan Locke, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author understand the site's terms and conditions"

In 1939 I was 11, and living in North London. I won a scholarship to Dame Alice Owen's Boys' School, Islington, which I was due to take up in September 1939. On 31st August, my father found out that the school was to be evacuated and called me home from holiday. So, at 11 a.m. on 1st September 1939, I was evacuated to Bedford for the whole duration of the war, until 25 July 1945.

Four hundred of us left by tube from the Angel, Islington to Edgware, then by bus to Mill Hill, then by train on the London-Bedford line.

On arrival, we marched a quarter of a mile to the cattle market, where WRVS ladies with clipboards were responsible for dividing us up and finding us billets. We had been given iron rations, including corned beef, a tin of Libby's milk and a bar of Cadbury's chocolate in a brown carrier bag.

At 5 p.m. that day, there were four boys remaining to be billeted, of which I was one. At last, we found a place with Mr and Mrs Garlick, a married couple without children (as were many of the couples who took in children). One boy, an Orthodox Jew, lasted a fortnight before changing billet; I stayed there for three months.

Our schooling took place at Bedford Modern School, sharing the premises, so that the BMS boys used the school from 8:30 until 1 p.m., and our lessons took place from 1:30 until 6 pm.The two schools' paths rarely crossed, as we played soccer and they rugby.

It was a very controlled experience, as there was a lock-up for the BMS boys, who were not allowed into the town after dark. We were, however, which gave some of us the opportunity to meet girls, and six marriages blossomed from these first encounters.

Our school hired halls in the town so that our lessons could run in the mornings as well as the afternoons; in particular, the Co-operative Hall, the Liberal Club and Village Hall and Oddfellows' Hall.

We made our way around town either on foot or by bike. One could tell the difference between a boy from London and one from bedford from the manner in which they rode their bicycles: we pushed down on the pedals with the balls of our feet while they rode as though the pedels were stirrups.

The River Ouse flows through Bedford and the BMS boys (and then some of us) practiced rowing on it. Non-swimmers were distinguished by wearing a white paerl button in their hats, of a white banner streamer in their boater in the Summer, and they would not be permitted to go rowing.

The experience of the whole school being evacuated together forged friendships between us which last till this day. Eighty of us contributed to the book "Well Remembered Fields", which gives the complete story of our experiences as evacuees.

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