大象传媒

This story,recounted by Jean Josephine Fisher, was recorded by Denis Price of the 大象传媒 People,s War Team, the 大象传媒 Open Centre, Hull.

I was eight years old when the War started. Two days before the War broke out, the school I attended, St. Vincents, evacuated most of its pupils to Scarborough. We all thought of it like going on holiday. We were with our class friends and teachers we were used to.We were accommodated in a private hotel, the maids were kept on to look after us, we ate in the big dining room,, we could use the games room and we were near the sea. We only went to school for half a day as we had to share schools with the Scarborough children. One week we went in the mornings and the next week in the afternoon. We went for walks along the seafront to the castle. My favourite was watching the waves crashing on the shore when it was stormy. I contracted scarlet fever and diphtheria so I was in hospital for two months. After I came out I lived with the people who owned the hotel in their private quarters.
When the bombing got bad in Hull my Mother and two young brothers came to Scarborough and stayed in a boarding house nearby so I could see them quite often. My Father stayed in Hull , he was in the ARP and went into the City Centre every night to help fight the fires the bombing caused. After six months we came back to Hull when the bombing had died down a bit. By 1941 we had moved house so I went to a different school, Endsleigh Junior School. The bombing was bad again so again the school evacuated to Weaverthorpe near Malton, this time we were in private houses. We went to school along with the village children. We joined in all the village activities,Harvest Festival,Village Dances and helped collect eggs at a farm. At Easter we coloured our eggs and rolled them down the hills. We had to take a handcart and collect wood in a forest for burning in the fireplace instead of coal. It was a Catholic school and every Sunday we were taken by bus to Sledmere House for Mass. We always lined the path as Lord and Lady Sykes came to the chapel.Also on Sunday we were allowed to go to the village shop with our sweet coupons and get our ration for the week. Another treat was walking quite a few miles to a bigger village for an icecream. Our parents and brothers and sisters came by coach to visit us once a month which we all looked forward to. Once when my Father came he was on crutches as he had been fighting a fire when the wall collapsed. I was there for six months.

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