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I was evacuated with my sisters and my parents to Keynsham in August 1939, and so was well established there when war broke out.
In September we children wandered down to the school hall to see the, mostly parentless, evacuees arrive from London. The place was teeming. Local householders had no choice about taking an evacuee, unless they had a good reason, and the "lucky ones" had been summoned to the school hall to choose the child, or children, they fancied. The plain ones were inevitably left behind, and those who wouldn’t be separated from younger siblings. Poor kids - a long day, away from all familiar surroundings, and now no one wanted them. I remember late in the day seeing the WVS etc. touring the village with these left-overs, pleading for a billet. Our lovely neighbour took one such girl in, despite having a large family of her own (and a small house!) The girl stayed for some years quite happily.
Soon many returned to London to their anxious parents. When raids began on London in 1940, another large evacuation was carried out, and I was again present for a repeat run of the school hall experience.
Once adapted to country life, most evacuees were happy, and some even stayed on after the war. A fellow Girl Guide in my company was one.

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