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I was born in Ardwick in Manchester When evacuation came my mother decided to send me with the school I was 11 years old at the time. I was lucky as three of my cousins accompanied me.The day we set out on this journey, which was by train, we had no idea where our journey would end. Parents eyes were full of tears as the trains, packed with their children, pulled out of the station.

My cousins and I, with a group of other children, eventually arrived at a place in the country which was called Aston, this was a little village in the heart of Shropshire. This was quite an adventure for a lot of the children as they had never been in the country before, this included myself. We were taken to the village school where we waited collection by the local people who took us back to their houses and farms to live with them.

I was one of twelve children chosen to live in a large Manor House which was called Lea Head Manor. This stood in its own grounds and the owner was a Major in the British Army. Several mothers accompanied us to tend our needs making our meals etc. The boys in our group shared two bedrooms and slept three in a bed. There was a large room in the Manor which was called the morning room where we were all allowed to play on rainy days. This room had large windows and a polished wooden floor.

The village school was very small, comprising of only two classrooms. It was not large enough to accommodate the village children and all the evacuees so we only attended school for half a day Monday to Friday. The village children attended the other half. In our spare time we helped on the farm which was situated only a few minutes walk down the lane from the Manor House.

Being City children, helping on the farm was like being on a long holiday, driving the horse drawn carts into the fields to load the vegetables which were grown there.My favourite horse was called Monty, named after the well known General who was fighting in the war, his name of course Montgomery.

Our parents used to come in a coach once a month from Ardwick to visit us. However as the seasons changed from summer into winter our parents became anxious that they would not be able to visit as the roads and lanes around Aston were liable to be blocked with snow in winter. As a result my mother decided that I should return back home to Ardwick. I vigorously objected to this but being only 11 years old my objections fell on deaf ears,so my cousins and I reluctantly returned home to Ardwick.

During the 12 months we had been evacuated in the countryside there had been no bombing in the City. However shortly after we returned home the Germans started bombing our City mainly at night, in hindsight should our parents have left us in the happy environment of the countryside?

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