大象传媒

The image attached to this story cannot be viewed for moderation or technical reasons

The government had laid down plans, long before the outbreak of war, for the evacuation of mothers and children from areas considered at high risk from German bombing. By late 1940 a number of evacuees had been taken in to Ramsbury homes and by the end of the year an extra 112 children were being educated at the school!
Winnie Swain (nee Davis) came from Dagenham in Essex where she attended the 鈥楩ord Endowed School鈥�. In 1940 its pupils were evacuated to Ramsbury. Winnie takes up the story: 鈥淲e were all marched to Heathway station to go by train to Paddington and then on to Hungerford where we boarded an old bus that took us to Ramsbury school in Back Lane. It all seemed very strange going so far away from home with just our gas mask, little haversack and label pinned to our clothing giving name and address. As we got off the bus some local children sitting on the school wall shouted 鈥楥ockney kids鈥� which made us feel very unwelcome.
I was ten-and-a-half years old and in charge of my younger brother Lenny who was just seven. Unfortunately, when we were allocated billets we were split up! I was taken, together with my friend Betty Parker, to No. 2 High Street owned by a Mrs Boyce. However Lenny and Betty鈥檚 brother went to stay with a Miss Russell,. A very old lady. It seemed very strange being away from my brother and I wondered when I would see him again. He did not seem happy living with Miss Russell, I think she was just too old to cope with with two young boys. After a while Lenny was found a new place to stay with a Miss Aldous and her father who lived at 鈥楰ewleys鈥�, a thatched cottage in Crowood Lane. They worked there as housekeeper and gardener respectively.
The only heating we had in our house were fires in the kitchen and dinning room. Our bedroom was very cold and our clothes always felt damp. For a treat we would sometimes eat in the British Restaurant in Back Lane, where you could get beans on toast for 2d! By the middle of 1943, after three years in Ramsbury, my mother decided that it would be safe for us to return to Dagenham even though the war was still on.鈥�
I returned home in late 1942 and resumed by education at the Park Senior School Dagenham. During this time at School a friend Doris Evans and her family were killed by a Doodle Bug.
After leaving school aged 14 years in 1943 I went to work in London at the London Midland & Scottish Goods Department, Broad Street Station until the end of the war.
During the whole War period my Father Charles Davis worked as a Motor Setter at Broad Street serving in the A.R.P. and Home Guard. He worked twelve hours a day seven days a week throughout the Blitz, at times not being able to return home for days at a time.

THE END

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.