An Evacuee's story

As a 6 year old child I was evacuated from Denmark Hill in London to Hastings on the Sussex coast with over a hundred children from my school. I believe it was a few days before the outbreak of war. It was the first time I had been on a long train ride. When we arrived we were lined up for local families to take us into their homes.

A very kind lady called Mrs Hake took me and one of my friends to her home in Pett Level, just outside Hastings. She had an attractive house and a lovely garden. She took us down to the gate at the bottom of the garden that led to cliffs, and told us that on a clear day you could see the coast of France. Thinking about it now it doesn't seem a very safe place to evacuate children to.

After a few weeks we were moved to Redruth in Cornwall. Although I was only living with her for a few weeks I kept in touch with Mrs Hake for many years.