| The story so far... Adolph Hitler had invaded Poland on September 1st 1939 and suddenly the world was once again in danger of going to war. Sam Harris (D93J) and his two younger brothers were to be evacuated from the London home of their parents and were taken to the local station at Dalston where they boarded a train for Rugby. From there, a fleet of buses took them to their destination of Long Lawford in Warwickshire... On arrival at the local school, we alighted and moved into the hall
where a number of ladies and gentlemen awaited us. We were divided up into
groups of twos and threes, while the people at the other end of the hall
who were to become our temporary mums and dads, had evidently told
officials in the hall their preference for (a) boys or girls and (b) the
number of children they could take. Saved by the Grimmetts |
THE EVACUEE |
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knew we would be and that she had already prepared lunch for us. We gave her
our carrier bags but she gave us back the biscuits and chocolate which of
course, endeared her to us even more! The next question she asked was whether we were C of E or R C because she didn't want us to go to the wrong church next day, Sunday. However, before I managed to tell her we were of the Jewish faith and went to synagogue on Saturdays, (well I did anyway) she said that we had to return to the school on the Sunday so that our teachers could sort out who was staying with who and where. When I did manage to tell her of our faith she said that she understood and that we wouldn't have to go to any religious places of worship other than our own. After an excellent lunch, her young brother Billy came round with his mates. Billy was just a few months older than I, as were his pals. Introductions were made and all us kids went off to be shown the best places to play. This wasn't too bad! What a wonderful feeling it was to be able to wander around the fields and play games in the pure air instead of the enclosed areas of the tenement buildings where we lived. When we returned 'home' at |
teatime, we met her husband Jack, a real
smashing guy. There was a dartboard in the back room, which served as a
dining room and thus began our romance with the game of darts. In most
cases our darts missed the board, so Jack put up a large piece of plywood
which had at least six inches clearance from the board, however we still
managed to miss both sets of boards. Many years later on an infrequent visit to them, Jack showed me tiny holes in the wooden panels that divided the two rooms. He said that we had done those with the darts back in 1939 but he would never have them treated. In later years they would have their own families, but we were always their first... On Sunday September 3rd, we assembled at the village school to be told of schooling arrangements such as times of attendance, classing details, etc. Just before 11.00 am, a radio was produced and all the school (local kids and teachers as well as our own) gathered around to hear heard the Prime Minister, Mr Chamberlain, announce that we were now at war with Germany... To be continued... |
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