Meet the Evacuees

We have interviewed over 90 people for the Children on the Move project. These include not only former evacuees, but also members of host families and local people who remember evacuees coming to their areas and filling their schools. Many still live in Staffordshire and the Midlands and were interviewed in their homes or at local libraries. Others now live as far away as Kent, Bournemouth and Wales, and were interviewed over the telephone about their experiences of evacuation.

To find out more about a particular person’s memories of evacuation and hear clips from their interview, simply use your mouse to click on their name or the Read more link and you will be taken to a separate page with information including photographs and audio clips from their original interview. Once you have selected a story, you can come back to this page or read all of the stories using the ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ links at the top of that page.

This page only shows twenty stories at a time, so if you can’t find a story you want to read simply refresh this page to see a different selection. Or, if you know the name of the person’s story you would like to read about, type their name into the search box at the top right of this page.

Harry Martin

Harry went with his mother to Riverway Girls' School to collect their Kent evacuees before taking them back to their semi-detached home in Rickerscote.

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Ken Maple

Ken was orphaned as a very young child. At the orphanage he was wrapped in a blanket and thrown down a shoot during an air raid. He was then evacuated to Admaston.

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Joyce Smith

Joyce was evacuated to Knightley with her brother and sister. They didn't understant 'evacuation', and thought they were going to the countryside to pick flowers for their mother.

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Jeffrey Goodwin

Jeffrey Goodwin was evacuated at the young age of 3 to live with the Goodwin family on the Keele estate. He was later adopted by the Goodwins, after his birth mother realised he had a better life in Staffordshire.

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Norma Hadley

Norma was evacuated to Pipewood Boarding Camp from Small Heath, Birmingham. Her house was burnt out whilst she was away.

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Edna Upton

Edna Upton lived in Weoley Castle as a young girl before getting the opportunity to be evacuated to Pipewood. She jumped at the chance.

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Margaret Hancock

Margaret was evacuated to Stockton Brook from the East End of London. She was taken in by all those living in the village and became 'one of them'.

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Joyce Sidebotham

Joyce was evacuated with her brother to Wetley Rocks from Longsight, Manchester. Her I.D. number was OTDB184/5, and she was given a banana and some milk for the train journey.

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Eileen Faires

When Eileen finally went home from her billet in Onecote, her host called her mother a 'wicked woman' for taking her away.

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Rob Weston

Rob was a young boy in Alton when evacuees from Manchester arrived. They didn't stop long but he had a crush on one of them, who he would have walked through fire and water for!

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John Doughty

John Doughty was evacuated from Margate, Kent to Gentleshaw. He was the last to be picked of the evacuees that day, and he still has the chip on his shoulder now.

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Hazel Robinson

Hazel was evacuated privately to live with her grandparents in Alton. Her uncle drove her up in his car, and she was sick all the way there.

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Brian Howard

Brian Howard was separated from his siblings when he was evacuated from Margate to Gentleshaw. He can remember sitting on the school bank singing them 'Cockney' songs.

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Theresa Peters

On the way to be evacuated from Birmingham to Woodville, Theresa's bus driver got lost and they ended up enjoying a lunch that wasn't meant for them!

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Mervyn Jones

Mervyn Jones went to live in Milford with his mother and father, who was head teacher at a school in Margate. He can remember seeing soldiers and gypsies on Cannock Chase.

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George Nye

George was evacuated from a children's home to Staffordshire. It was only on the day of his evacuation that he found out he had a brother and two sisters.

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Reginald Walsh

Reginald was evacuated from Ramsgate in 1940. During his time in Staffordshire, he stayed with a total of 13 different families.

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Vera Jenkins

On the way to their evacuation in Staffordshire, Vera's sister June decided to go against their mother's wishes and be billeted with her friend. That was until their mother found out...

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Elizabeth Barker

Elizabeth Barker was evacuated with her two younger sisters first to Norfolk and then Dilhorne, Staffordshire. The cousin of her two friends in Dilhorne was to be her future husband...

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