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This story is taken from an interview with William & Georgina McVeigh, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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Georgina
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I don’t remember a great deal about it, because as I say I was quite young. But we did go away. We went, because my mother was pregnant we went to stay with her brother in Newry. I think maybe we stayed about 6 weeks there, and then we went to her sister who had a farm quite near to where M&S is now at Sprucefield. It was right beside the wireless station. And her eldest son, at that time he was away, he was a Marine. And the younger boy, he still worked on the farm, and he was there when we were evacuated there. And he was very kind to us, because after my sister was born, then my mother went back to Belfast, but we stayed on in Lisburn for a while. And he was very kind. I suppose he knew that I was a bit homesick, and then he joined the army. He was in the Irish Guards, and he was a POW. And I remember my aunt making up parcels to send to him. And of course, being very young - “bars of chocolate!”
“No, no — those aren’t for you!”
not realising how very important it was for the stuff to get to him!
It would have been, I remember knitted stuff like hand-knitted socks, that sort of thing. Probably cigarettes. But that’s just all that little bit I can remember.
Some yrs ago when we were talking he said “Serve for your country? Never again! I lost very good friends. Their widows weren’t very well treated.”
A bit of disillusionment there too.

Billy
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I got staying at home. They kept an eye on me. Quite a good, how would you say, a good time as children. We had at the back of our houses the dairy farm. That was our shelter. And then, where we built the shelter, that was the fields, and we just run wild. Dad had worked a lot of time, and mum had my older brothers and all to look after as well, and as long as we weren’t in her way she was happy and we were happy. That was about it.

G
A lot more freedom than children have now. We had a wonderful time. Cause we lived in the same street.

We had a good upbringing and a very jolly life that I can remember back to. There was never any hardships.

G
We always seemed to get plenty, didn’t we? It was good fun, because you were always out and running all the time. The streets cleared when “Dick Barton, Special Agent” came on or something like that. But we were out from dawn til dusk, and we only came in when we were hungry.

B
No traffic. very little traffic.
That was radio. “Dick Barton” would have been the favourite, and … what was it?

G
“The man in Black”?

B
What was the music one?

G
Radio Luxembourg

B
That was very popular.

[Lord haw-haw?]
Never heard it. I heard people talking about it, but I never heard it.
I don’t know whether [my parents] would have approved or not. I suppose if it had come on and they’d have been listening, they’d have said “what are you doing there?” but I don’t remember ever hearing it.

G
I don’t remember hearing that either.

B
For to be a war, we had a good time. And mum always managed to have something on the table. I don’t ever remember missing a meal. Good years, they were. And I suppose a bit later on, Wednesday nights and Friday nights they’d have taken us to the Curzon Cinema. Didn’t matter what was on, that was entertainment. If we didn’t get our own seats there was nearly a row, you know? That was good.

Radio and cinema, that’s what we lived for.

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