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I was born in Anfield, Liverpool in 1931. In 1939, at the age of 8, I was evacuated, with Austin my brother, who was 18 months younger, to Rhuddlan, North Wales.
We stayed with a lady in a house opposite Rhuddlan Castle. The lady had lost her husband in the 1st World War, and to us she seemed very old. The lady, possibly because of her age, couldn’t cope with us, so after a few weeks we were moved.

We went to live with a lady who had a bungalow on the Abergele road. I don’t think we were there long and neither of us was very happy. We just wanted to go home. I don’t think our parents were happy with the way we were being treated, so once again we were moved.

This time we went to a nice house on the road to Rhyl. One Sunday we were on our way to Sunday school and we saw our Dad’s car parked outside, we hoped he was going to take us home! He had indeed come to take us home, which delighted my brother and I.

Before the war Dad had bought a bungalow in Heswall which was rented out. The tenant was in the RNVR and was among the first to be called up, so he gave up the tenancy. Now we could move into our proper home. We were able to stand on the steps at the back of the bungalow and watch the bombing of Liverpool. This was just another adventure for us boys.

I was one of 7 children (eventually), 6 boys and 1 girl. Our Dad was in the RAF and as National Service came along 5 of us also joined the RAF.

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