麻豆官网首页入口

Second Evacuation (to Kettering) and Return to London
by Joan Styan

No one believed in their wildest dreams that the war would continue for 6 long weary years. However, after a while my young sister suddenly became very fearful and hysterical every time the air raid siren sounded so my mother had to consider evacuation again. Unfortunately this would result in even more disruption in our education.

So we packed up once again (which wasn't easy without the use of a car and having to rely on public transport) and went to my Auntie Lily and cousins in Colchester to escape from the London bombing. We had only been there for a few weeks when school children were suddenly being evacuated from Colchester to Kettering in Northamptonshire. We then went with them together with my Auntie Lily and cousins Norah, who was always by her side, Essie, Danny and Pat. Mrs Hinnells and her family who lived across the road came too.

On arrival there was total confusion just as there was on our first evacuation to Brighton at the beginning of the war. Finally my mother, brother Ken and sister Margaret and I were billeted with an elderly gentleman, Mr Croxton and his dour, gangly, fussy old housekeeper, Kitty, who made our lives an utter misery. However, looking at it from their point of view, their precious house was to them a palace, so to have a mother and 3 children descend upon them invading their privacy and serene little existence was somewhat traumatic but they should at least have had some compassion for us. After all we were really the unfortunate ones who had to leave our homes, schools and familiar surroundings which completely disrupted our lives but Kitty had no compassion for our predicament whatsoever. Also, people in the Midlands had the strange idea that all Londoners were rough. How wrong could they be?

Mr Croxton and Kitty were fortunate to have a mother accompanying her children anyway as many young evacuees were billeted on their own. My mother was highly disciplined and we were brought up to be obedient. We could never do anything right when Kitty was around and it was a nightmare for my mother to have to share the kitchen with her as Kitty just didn't want to compromise or share anything. My mother desperately tried to fit in and keep us children out of sight which was quite difficult. They just didn't want us there and made it very obvious. Kitty was nothing short of a dragon! One day Mr Croxton was sitting in his chair and could see the end of his garden through the reflection of the glass in a picture hanging on the opposite wall in his dining room. Whilst sitting there he happened to see from the reflection my brother climbing one of the trees in his garden and scrumping his apples which they had never offered to us. Needless to say Ken, a studious boy, was in severe trouble. This gave Kitty the excuse to become even more obnoxious. After a while it became impossible to live there so my mother went to the billeting office once again requesting that we be relocated. They said it was extremely difficult to find accommodation for a mother and 3 children so we had no choice but to move into 3 separate houses.

I was lucky to live in a comfortable house with a girl named Jean Richardson who was my age (12) and lived with her parents. Jean was somewhat spoilt but we had a lot in common including our piano practise and we often had midnight feasts; she was great fun. When I finally left to return home to London, she bought me a piece of music, 'Salut D'Amour' by Sir Edward Elgar, as a parting present. To this day I still have it. My brother lived next door with a pleasant family called the Baileys and my young sister and mother were billeted with the same family's elderly parents around the corner who were in bed by 9 o'clock each night. My mother was expected to do the same. I actually went to bed later than my mother which was amusing. I used to see her and my sister Margaret sitting up at their bedroom window while I was out playing. I learnt to roller-skate in Kettering with many friends in the road and I also learnt to swim in an open air pool in their famous Wicksteed Park. Mr Wicksteed was the benefactor who provided numerous equipment for children's playgrounds including swings, slides, roundabouts etc., all over the country. During the war there was an imprint of a German parachutist who had landed in the park which was a source of much intrigue to the children and adults alike. The winter was bitterly cold in Kettering with a lot of snow and my brother and I earned pocket money sweeping the drives of houses. We also had a lot of fun sledging and playing snowballs with our friends. Whilst we were in Kettering, my brother received a telegram from my father who had been invalided out of the Navy and was again working at the Admiralty in London and living at home. It said: 鈥淐ongratulations Kenny boy, you've won a scholarship.". Needless to say, we were all thrilled.

I attended Kettering Grammar School and I remember struggling with French as my London school was not so advanced in the language but I did excel in maths as we were ahead in London. I quite enjoyed my schooling there. One day when walking back home with a friend, we saw a crowd gathering on the other side of the road. We thought it was an accident and my friend insisted on running over to see what the commotion was about. I hated accidents so I didn't go with her. Anyway, she soon came rushing back to tell me that my brother had been knocked down and was lying on the pavement. I was panic stricken and went over there immediately but fortunately local first aid was all that was required which was a great relief. Apparently he had been knocked down by a bicycle and the mudguard was bent over his leg. After a while he recovered but at the time he looked lifeless.

Auntie Lily was my mother's sister and they were always close. However, my Auntie and cousins only stayed in Kettering for 6 weeks as they wanted to get back to Colchester. Unfortunately we could not return to London because of the impending air raids. Auntie Lily had a strange experience on the platform when waiting to catch the train back to Colchester with her children. There was a woman on the platform with a 2-seater pram who was absolutely desperate to get back to London away from Kettering but she didn't have the full fare. She said to my aunt: "You can have this pram if you give me 2 shillings to make up my full fare to London." Auntie Lily who was always kind immediately gave her the 2 shillings and couldn't believe her luck as it was a lovely pram. She straight away put my 2 little cousins Danny and Pat into the pram, together with blankets and other luggage, and with Norah and Essie by her side, they all happily returned home to Colchester.

My mother helped out at the local infants school and took a class of 5-year olds whenever the teacher was absent. My sister, who was in her class took full advantage of it and tried to play her up at every opportunity. My mother did not stand any nonsense and Margaret was given no favouritism. Our life in Kettering was quite tranquil and my mother and Margaret were reasonably happy in their accommodation under the circumstances and so was Ken. However, the one thing we did not like was the frugal way some of them lived. We were given very sparse meals and were often hungry which was a lot different from the meals my mother served. Despite all the adversity in London, she always managed to feed us well even to the point of denying herself which she did frequently. One of my cousins. Essie, in Kettering was given sheep's brains for dinner which revolted her. Both families where my mother and brother were billeted attended church 3 times on a Sunday. Their entire day was devoted to going to church. In London we only went once, to Sunday school.

After a year or so in 1943, London became quieter and we decided to chance our luck and return to our home so we could all be together again with our father who was now working again at the Admiralty. Yes, we'd done it again.! We had only been back a two weeks when the doodle-bugs started. Our timing was diabolical. We had now been evacuated twice which hadn't helped us very much as London always seemed to be quieter when we were away. Not only did we suffer the doodle-bugs, we later had to endure the V2 rockets. As previously mentioned, there were no warning signals given for the V2 rockets which claimed many victims. Apart from the fact that I had a near miss in the Granada cinema, another of our local cinemas was hit on Lavender Hill. I can remember many children queuing outside for their Saturday morning film show when they had a direct hit from a rocket. A friend of mine who was in the library opposite said the screams were unbearable. Another rocket hit Woolworths in New Cross one Saturday afternoon at the peak shopping time which claimed the lives of over 100 women and children. Another killed over 100 in busy Smithfield Market where there were also many injuries. Also I remember the night when the Crystal Palace was bombed and the whole of the sky was blood red for miles around.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.