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This story was submitted to the People's War site by a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Cambridgeshire Story gatherer on behalf of Joyce Cooper and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was evacuated from London to Lanreath in Cornwall. When I was 12 I went with my younger sister Audrey and younger brother John leaving my parents in London. I don’t know how I felt as it was something that everyone was doing and it was expected. It helped being the eldest so it gave me something to do as I looked after them.

We went to a farm which was about between 3 and 4 miles from the village so we had to walk from the farm to the school every day. My brother was only 6 so we were always late for school as he couldn’t walk very well. Sadly it wasn’t that good but we did have home made butter and bread and home made cider. Every night we drank cider. Even my 6 year old brother and as it was home made it was very strong! When my mother found out she was very angry!

On the farm we didn’t have to help out but we did some general chores. My brother loved it so he helped with the animals and hay making, but I didn’t like the animals so I didn’t help.

We all shared a bed, it wasn’t very good but at least it was a double bed. We were only there for about 6 weeks and then my parents took us back to London when it was in the middle of the Blitz. My uncle had been evacuated from Dunkirk and he found a cottage in the village of Whaddon and we all moved there with my parents, grandmother, brother and sister. We stayed there untill the end of the war.

I even met my husband in Whaddon in around 1943. We met when we used to go to the Methodist church for social meetings. He was a soldier and we went to the church to meet people and by August 2005 we’ll have been married 59 years!

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