ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

When I worked as a Florist in a famous West End shop, Constance Spry,as a teenager a titled lady customer came in and asked for volunteers to help with the evacuation of children under five years old and expectant mothers. So I said yes I would help and we were told to get to a main line London station, I think it was Kings Cross, by 8am on the Sunday - the day the second war started (although war wasn't declared until later that day).
My boyfriend had a motor cycle but he hadn't passed his test and no buses were running early enough, so he took his 'L' plates off and I rode on the back seat. During that Saturday night we had a severe thunderstorm, but by morning it had stopped raining, so we set off at about 7am from my parents house in Leytonstone, E11. We got to the River Lea and weren't sure of the way, so we saw a policeman on foot and stopped him to direct us to the main line station. We were both hoping he wouldn't ask to see my boyfriend's driving licence as he only had a provisional one and shouldn't have had me on the back as a passenger. The policeman directed us to the London Railway Station and we duly arrived just before 8am.
I had bought fruit lollies on sticks and biscuits for them and we had to check that the children had their gas masks and their name and address on their coats. I felt a lump in my throat as the children said goodbye to their parents, not knowing where they were going and for how long. Most of the children were in tears, as were their parents, but we got settled in and got seated on the train in due course and off we went to our unknown destination. Some of the children stopped crying and looked out of the windows of the train. At last we arrived in a village in Sussex and were all ushered into the vallage hall where the locals were there ready to receive a youngster.
There were one or two children who were brothers and sisters and naturally they wanted to stay somewhere together.
The Red Cross ladies were in charge and the little ones all lined up in a row, a few were with their mothers who were pregnant and they wanted to stay together naturally, but I was very upset to see the locals rejecting one or two youngsters who didn't come up to their expectations, by their appearance, etc.
Anyway, all the evacuees got taken by car to their new homes eventually and by then I was told that World War II had been declared that Sunday morning.
I got lodgings for that night and returned home to my home in London the next day, feeling pleased that I had helped in some way. Mrs Anne Tarrant

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