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The following is an excerpt from a group reminiscence session held at Ashford Library on 3/11/05. It is added to the site with the participants' permission.

On the 3rd of September 1939, I was playing in Radnor Park, Folkestone, and the siren went. I lived about half a mile away and, not knowing what to do, I started to run, and a bus stopped and [the driver] said, 鈥淲here are you going?鈥� I said, 鈥楽horncliffe Road鈥�, and he said, 鈥楬op on鈥�, and dropped me off. Luckily enough, it was a false alarm. And that was the beginning of the war in Folkestone.

On June the 6th 1940 my school was evacuated to Wales. We left in time, and our train had to be put into the sidings to let the trains with all the Dunkirk soldiers come past, and we arrived in a little village near Abergavenny at 9 o鈥檆lock in the evening. I remember lining up in the school hall, and all these elderly people came in, picked the girls first, and I was one of the last to be picked. My brother was in another school, and he was in Merthyr Tydfil, and I saw him about four times a year. He used to come over on a bus. And after two years we came home. Eventually, we moved to Ashford, and spent the rest of the war there.

I spent most of my school days in the shelters, which was very disturbing for your schooling. I remember, at night time, when the doodle bugs were in their prime, we spent most of our time under the stairs, in the cupboard. There was just room for my mother and my brother and myself. My father used to go outside and watch. And it was all right when you heard the noise. But if the noise stopped, you held your hands.

On VE Day, Ashford High Street was absolutely filled with people, and tables with food on them. I think there was some music and dancing going on. But in those days I was more interested in girls.

Memories contributed by Roy Turner and collected by Ashford Library Local Studies Service.

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