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Evacuees

Any out there? I was sent to Hanley Stoke on Trent


Created By on 04/12/2015

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Cessna
26th Mar 2021 10:57:59
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In June '44 I had been awoken about 6 am while sleeping in the Anderson shelter in our garden. Although I hadn't heard any explosion a V1 Flying bomb had landed onto nearby houses. They flew very low and sounded like a motorcycle. without an exhaust. Our doors and windows had been blown out or damaged and some ceilings were down. Soon we received notification that children were to assemble in Wallington town hall car park for evacuation, where we boarded LT buses that took us to London where we boarded trains for Billesly Common at Sth Birmikngham. We were there for several months, billeted with a very pleasant Mrs Fox and her son who took us on visits to Birmingham city. and Dudley. . We played on the common where German POWs were helping on a farm and where I learnt to scrump apples. . We were at Billesley for about 4 months and eventually returned home to Wallington, and back to normal life.
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Audrine
10th Dec 2015 15:55:31 (Last activity: 19th Sep 2018 19:08:20)
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Did you have a good experience? So many little ones were not treated kindly, while others enjoyed their new homes. Tell us of your time as an evacuee, I am interested in all of WW2.
Response from Topsie made on 19th Sep 2018 19:08:20
I have only just found this subject. I was 7 and was evacuated with my school friends to Rottingdean near Brighton. I wasn't very happy. When I was older I could not understand why we were sent to the coast nearer the enemy. I returned home after nine months. I experienced being in London during the blitz. Very frightening. We lived between Battersea Power Station and Clapham Junction Railway station, both targets for the enemy. I was then sent to Somerset and stayed with a couple and their 18 month daughter. I often went back after the war. I am still very much part of their family even though my foster parents have since died. I look upon their daughter as my wartime sister. Last week one of my friends who lived in the same village phoned me and we were chatting for an hour, Happy memories.
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GrahamO
10th Aug 2017 18:53:00 (Last activity: 9th Sep 2017 21:36:18)
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Hello all,

I am researching my family history and have come across an A.C. Halliday (not related) who was a teacher from Rochester, Kent, evacuated with his class to Nantyglo, South Wales in the 40s ... there is a reference in his writing to Duffryn House, New Road but I have been unable to locate this and some local people I've asked do not seem to remember it either ... can anyone throw some light on this please ... Thank you.
Response from Fruitcake13 made on 9th Sep 2017 21:20:18
Could it be Dyffryn House rather than Duffryn House?
Response from Fruitcake13 made on 9th Sep 2017 21:25:22
I believe that 'Dyffryn' is pronounced 'Duffryn', ie as though the 'y' is a 'u'.
Response from Fruitcake13 made on 9th Sep 2017 21:36:18
Also, there is a road called New Road in Nantyglo.
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Maywalk
8th Sep 2017 19:28:34 (Last activity: 9th Sep 2017 20:35:57)
2
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I was an evacuee after being bombed out twice during the London Blitz. I was also machine gunned twice. Once in the hopfields and the other on the evacuee train. I wrote a book about the first 20 years of my life that takes in the Great Depression and the war years. All proceeds after printing costs taken out goes to my local Childrens Hospice. It is also on my WW2 website. I am 87 now but can still remember of various happenings years ago.
Response from CaroleAH made on 8th Sep 2017 23:56:08
Hello! It's good to hear that you have written about your experiences. I'm sure that your family will appreciate reading about your life during WW2. My Grandfather was in the Royal Flying Corps during WW1 and although he would answer questions, if asked, he died when I was 19 and so wasn't around when my interest in the family tree and its history was aroused in later years. I have got photos of "Hun" planes which had crashed and "Natives" in Egypt, where he was stationed in 1914, but a diary or book of reminiscences would be priceless.
Response from Fruitcake13 made on 9th Sep 2017 20:35:57
Hello Maywalk, my father was a Londoner and was evacuated as a child during the London Blitz. He was first evacuated (along with the younger of his two older sisters) to Stroud in Gloucestershire. The wealthy lady in Stroud who took them in was horrible to them, she made them sleep in her freezing attic and only fed them bowls of peas. Clearly she didn't really want them there or give a damn about them.
Later, my father was evacuated again, but this time by himself, to a family in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales who had offered to take in London evacuees. They were a huge family, who although far from wealthy, looked after him wonderfully, they were very jolly, caring and very generous, despite having a large family of their own to feed and look after. As an adult, he went back to visit this family in Wales whenever he could, he was eternally grateful to them for their generosity and kindness, despite their lack of wealth.
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tyrasnan
25th Oct 2016 16:08:51
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also remember the raids, so terrifying as we lived close by a ammunitions factory, & had to walk about 500 yards to the nearest communal shelters which were beneath a viaduct .this was often in the middle of the night , so we were of course very tired & cold, also lost a lot of time from school . Yes & of cause hungry & often had to queue for an hour or more for a bag of broken biscuits ora half pound of tomatoes, also the horror when returng from the shelters in the early hours to find some of your friends & neighhomes demolished & learning of the death of a school friend. We are so fortunate these days
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ruby070
11th Dec 2015 16:11:52 (Last activity: 24th Sep 2016 17:51:26)
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I remember so vividly how wonderful the forties felt. Seemed so calm and peaceful. Chasing after the fireflies at night with all the neighborhood kids. Walking to the candy store with your best friend. Hand and hand with Mom and brother going to the movies. Sitting on the porch in the summer time
till all hours telling stories. There was no air conditioning so all the neighborhood porches were lit up with the moms and dads and kids till we finally felt tired enough to sleep. The ice cream trucks. I remember the horse pulling the cart? or whatever; but can't remember what was being delivered. Seems like all the movies were musicals. So many fond memories.
Response from golfgt made on 24th Sep 2016 17:51:26
I remember coming out of an air raid shelter to find our house was blitzed, and living with my grandmother for a short while. Then as the bombing intensified, my mother and myself along with baby sister were evacuated to South Wales (Nanty Glo) but on the way by train we got as far as Bristol when there was an air raid so train was shunted half way into a tunnel, but we got bombed back and front resulting in total darkness and flying glass as the windows shattered from the blast. When emergency lights came on my baby sister (1 yr) was covered in blood from the glass fragments.We then continued by charabanc (bus) to our destination in heavy snow storm.
I too remember the ice-cream trucks, the fresh fish sellers on wheel barrows, Royal Mail delivering parcels by horse and cart, searching for shops that might have food left for sale,
and trying to read at night by nite lights. Our main treat was also the cinemas,but we couldn't afford to pay to get in so it was any we could to watch the films.
Children today do not know the meaning of deprivation as we were always hungry and often very very cold. Hard times, but still remembered.
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849Gingerbeer
26th Feb 2016 16:04:00
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It's very interesting to hear other peoples experiences of being evacuated. Mine was a mixture of unpleasant, exciting and very pleasant. I was evacuated from Canning Town London in about 1940 Just as the Blitz started to Chepstow Monmouth which got a bit hot when we were Machine gunned from the air. From there back to London and then to Anstey, Leicester with my Grandmother, Aunt and cousin who were bombed out. I was billeted with them and a very nice lady, for a very pleasant period returning to London as and when conditions allowed. Whilst many documentaries' have been made of this period to my mind they did not represent a true picture.
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