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Memories of Evacuation and Family Life

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posted on 2024-06-05, 17:34 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

I originally lived in Canning Town. In 1940, my dad was a crane driver, a reserved occupation. I was evacuated to Bridgwater, Somerset. My memory of that period is sketchy, but overall I believe it was tolerable. If I was naughty, I would be sent to a room and given arrowroot biscuits! I remember my mother coming to fetch me but am not sure how long I was there. I remember the train home and my mother giving me a celluloid doll.

We moved to a small, one-bedroomed chalet on a piece of land in Doddinghurst, Essex, together with our family who owned the land. Dad cycled from Doddinghurst to Canning Town! My cousin was evacuated to Carswell Farm in Berkshire, and we moved there to a thatched cottage rent-free, as my aunt did the farmer's laundry. A nearby property housed Italian and German prisoners of war. I found them all friendly. The school I attended was Buckland School.

Eventually, my parents got two rooms in a bungalow at Kelvedon Hatch. I was still in Berkshire until my parents were able to have the whole bungalow, and then I moved in with them. In fact, I was a bit of a tomboy, doing things like collecting shrapnel from bomb sites.

After the war, in 1950, my parents moved back to London because my dad was still working at the power station.

History

Item list and details

1 and 2: wartime family photographs

Person the story/items relate to

Contributor

Person who shared the story/items

Anon

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

Personal memories

Type of submission

Shared at Hadleigh Library, Essex on 4 November 2023. Organised by Hadleigh Castle u3a.

Record ID

96921 | HAD018