Mervyn Jones moved with his mother and father from Margate to Milford in 1940 when St Augustine’s, the Catholic School his father taught at was evacuated en masse to Stafford. He was born in 1937 so remembers very little about his journey or the first few years in Milford. However he does remember his first day at school at the age of four and a half and the impression the large, red brick building made on him and living near Cannock Chase:
Transcript of Mervyn’s audio clip
He describes his life in Milford as tranquil enough, with a young girl next door, and a big garden to play in that backed onto the railway line. He can remember the train drivers slowing the trains down to throw sacks of coal to his mother.
The family returned to Margate in 1944, and he can remember the noise of the doodlebugs and rockets flying over head.