Memories of Evacuation and Family Life

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.