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Summer 1940 is a particularly vivid memory for me. At the beginning of the 1939-45 War my father Raymond Saunders volunteered to enter the Army, having served as a Sapper in the 1914-18 War. As he had been wounded by shrapnel in the earlier War and as his knee as a result was permanently damaged, the Army refused to acceept him. However he was considered too good an engineer to let slip and he was posted from Stourbridge in Worcestershire, where we then lived, to Sheffield, where he was responsible for bomb disposal in that city and for Hull, Rotherham and Doncaster.

My parents considered that Sheffield-rightly as it turned out-was too dangerous a place for a lad of 8, so I was evacuated along with another 11 children whose parents were similarly involved in or with the War, to live in Worthing with two elderly ladies (who at the time were probably all of 45!). For some reason best known to themselves the Germans started shelling Worthing, so we 12 kids, plus the two ladies and a maid, Doris, were moved by charabanc-literally a coach with wooden benches-to Monks Risborough in Buckinghamshire.
Monkton Cottage, where we lived, was a large rambling house in a small village near the Bakery kept by a Mrs. Chalmers, near the Church and a farm, which supplied us with milk, The son of that farm, Jack, married our maid, Doris, so eventually alternative help had to be found. We children were taught for three or more years by the two ladies, Edith and Hetty Brangwin (who were cousins of the great wartime cartoonist, Fougasse and also related to Sir Frank Brangwin, the Artist/Conservator) and later by their sister, Dorothy and her husband Frank Riley.
The cottage belonged to a Miss Silver, who had willingly vacated it to allow it to be a beautiful home for us. It had a large, varied and interesting garden. The summer of 1940 brought superb weather-endless blue skies and blazing sunshine all day-which lasted into October.

Each of us children had our own responsibities-mine were mustard and cress and lettuce and Roy Hamilton,who lives in Inverness and whom we still see on a regular basis,dealt with beetroot radishes and cucumbers. The very large orchard had many apple, pear and plum trees and liberal supplies of soft fruit. The plums in particular were excellent-most of us overdid our plum intake with inevitable consequences, but we still carried on eating them!We sat in the garden and in the distance we could see aircraft flying around and occasionally one dropping from the sky. The brangwin sisters told us thaat there was an important aerial battle going on, the result of which could determine our very futures. None of this meant very much to us then, although we of course realised later how vital it had been. We were happy to enjoy the house, the garden, the bakery and the Church(where there were cakes and tea after Sunday Service!)

In 1942 I went to the local Church School, form where I was fortunate enough to get a Scholarship to the Royal Grammar School at High Wycombe and remained there as a Boarder until 1950. The other children remained at Monkton Cottage until early 1944, when it was considered safe enough to return to Worthing, from where they eventually returned to their own families.

Summer 1940-a lifetime ago, but still a colourful and living memory.

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