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.

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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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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Tony Longdon

Tony was 8 when he was evacuated from Bexhill-on-Sea to Stoke-on-Trent. He had his first oatcake in 1941 and has been stuck on them ever since.

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Daphne Slade

Before being evacuated to Norton Canes, Daphne's parents nearly put her on a steam passenger ship sailing to Canada with 90 other evacuees. The ship was torpedoed and 77 children died.

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Shirley Webb

Shirley was billeted in a huge house in Colton with her younger brother. Here, she received very little warmth from the host family, and spent most of her time with the servants, who were lovely.

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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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Ethel Rice

Ethel was evacuated with her family to Burton upon Trent after picking hops in Kent. She remembers the taste of hops on her fingers made her sandwiches taste funny...

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James Dutton

James remembers his large family of six were squashed even more when two Kent evacuees joined them. He cheered when they left.

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Nora Landon

At the outbreak of war Nora was 20 years old and a volunteer at the Congregational Church in Hanley.

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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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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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Bill Badham

Bill was first evacuated to Norfolk from Bethnall Green in London. From Norfolk they were supposed to be sent to Wales, but ended up in Leek!

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Catharine Hind

Catharine's father sent her to live with her cousins in Leek when their home in London was bombed. She felt lucky to be with family and enjoyed life on their farm.

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Frances Cooke

Frances shared her home with two evacuees from Ancoats who brought nits with them and didn't like to go in the bath.

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Lily Nye

Lily was evacuated at the age of 4 from her home in Everton to Leek. She told her friend next door she was going to be 'evaporated'!

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Jean Wilks

Jean Wilks was evacuated to Leek where she stayed with the Keaseys and helped in their sweet shop on Stockwell Street.

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June Cowper

June was evacuated to Uttoxeter with her classmates from Withington Girls' School. Her hosts treated her like part of the family, and she wasn't homesick at all.

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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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Marjorie Clowes

Marjorie was evacuated to Leycett from her home in Manchester at the age of 9. Her mother told her she would be "back by Tuesday".

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Douglas Wood

Douglas Wood was billeted with two extremely kind ladies in Rolleston-on-Dove. He didn't want to return to his family home in Birmingham, and was ridiculed by his peers for having lost his Birmingham accent.

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