大象传媒

DISCLAIMER:
This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Phil Sealey of the Somerset County Museum Team on behalf of Pat Halliwell, nee Wigens, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions

鈥淭he war changed all our lives in our family, but mine most of all I think. We received a letter in August 1939 to say that Haberdashers鈥� School was going to be evacuated in the event of war, and did I wish to go with them. I was due to start at the school in the middle of September so we agreed that I should be evacuated with them and I recall it as having been regarded as something of an adventure. For the last week in August I used to travel the hourlong journey to Acton to the school where our days were spent in planning how we would accomplish this operation. We were divided into groups according to age, although sisters were always together with the oldest one鈥檚 group, and a mistress was in charge of each group. These groups had a special name - Greek I expect - but I can鈥檛 remember what it was.

I suppose the object of these preparations was partly to develop a bond between us as groups, ready for our first experience of living away from home. It must have been just as strange for the staff as for us, because I can only remember one of them (Mrs Richardson) as being married. I really cannot speak highly enough of our teachers. They took such good care of us, and it must be partly due to them that I only once experienced any feeling of homesickness; although I think that my parents also deserve a lot of credit for that. They never gave any indication that my leaving home was anything but an exciting adventure, which 1 would be sure to enjoy. I was nearly eleven; we had never been apart before and the country was on the brink of a major war in which we expected to be bombed and possibly gassed, but an atmosphere of absolute confidence was transmitted to me.

On Friday September 1st we were told that we would be leaving on the next day, so on Saturday the 2nd I left home with my suitcase and travelled the hour鈥檚 journey to school. I have no recollection as to whether my mother came with me, but if so it was only to school. We then walked, without parents, to West Acton station, I think, and thence to Paddington. We were part way to the West Country when our headmistress, Miss Sprules, came along the corridor to tell each compartment in turn that we were going to Dorchester. I remember that we asked excitedly if it was near the sea and on hearing that the sea was only about eight miles away we felt that we were off on our holidays. Little did we know that we would never get a glimpse of it.

Although we did indeed go to Dorchester, and eventually shared Dorchester High School (I think we had it in the mornings) we actually lived in the villages round about. I, being in the lower school, was in Charminster. I know that Cerne Abbas was also used. But first I must go back to the evening of our arrival. Charminster was a very small village at that time, and the billeting officer must have been round to every house to ensure that everybody who could possibly accommodate two or more children did so. They were all gathered in the village hall sitting round the sides waiting for us. We arrived on a bus each clutching a suitcase and a brown paper carrier bag containing our emergency rations consisting of, a tin of corned beef, a tin of condensed milk, and various other items of food. It was raining, and between the bus and the hall my carrier bag became wet enough to break, and all my tins fell out. (Here we have one of the problems of history when written long after the event. I really am pretty sure it was raining, but 1 certainly couldn鈥檛 take an oath on the split bag, because it sounds too much like a good story). Anyway the next part I am sure about.

We all sat in the middle of the floor until our names were called. First came the sisters who were allocated to the first of the villagers; then the rest of the girls who had paired up with their friends. Finally, last and very much least was me, because I was the only new girl. I was paired with a girl called Mary Frier. Why she was lumbered with me I don鈥檛 know, but I am quite sure she didn鈥檛 volunteer, so we were just there together the last two evacuees. And inevitably we were given to the last two of the villagers. They were Mr Virgin, a widower of 90 (no, that can鈥檛 possibly be true, but it is what we used to claim) and his housekeeper Miss Miller who was a strict disciplinarian. So back we walked with Miss Miller to this small old three bedroomed terrace house where Mary and I had to sleep not just in the same room, but in the same bed! And yet none of this worried me. 1 still thought I was having an adventure 1 had always been an avid reader of girls鈥� school stories, and now I was living a story of my own.

The first morning we all walked along to the forecourt of the village inn, The Goat and Compasses, or perhaps The Three Compasses where Miss Smith, Miss Titmus and Miss Edwards were billeted. We had been given the use of the attic room in the vicarage as a schoolroom and we had a marvellous time furnishing it for our use. We used orange boxes as seats, as tables and as cupboards. And we made curtains to hang in front of the cupboards. The school term didn鈥檛 actually start until the middle of September, and I think we were given plenty of time to explore the countryside and learn new skills. One thing we were taught was how to do a gate vault (it involves leaning over the top of a five bar gate, putting one hand on to a bar half way down the far side to take your weight, then swinging the legs over together pointing them upwards in a stylish manner keeping them straight and together).

At some point arrangements were made for us all to share with Dorchester High School for Girls, their school building. Buses were sent round to all the villages where we were billeted to take us in to school. We must have covered the full curriculum while we were in Dorchester but there is only one subject I remember, and that is singing. I can see myself now sitting on the floor in the gymnasium beside the wall bars on which was hanging a chart illustrating the tonic sol fa. I can still recall those lessons, which are still an invaluable aid in sight reading music, but I have no recollection of any other lesson. Occasionally my parents were able to come down and visit me, and they would take me into Dorchester to have tea at the Judge Jeffries Tearooms. I believe I also went home for a visit for Christmas. Then about Easter time in 1940 Dorchester was declared a military area and the whole school returned to Acton where we were joined by those girls who hadn鈥檛 been evacuated, so that was the end of the adventure.

There were many more adventures ahead though, if nightly flights of aeroplanes intent on dropping bombs can be called an adventure. But that is another story.鈥�

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