Mrs Cynthia Harkness would like to hear from anyone who was evacuated to Barking Tye in Suffolk from Gearies School, Grants Hill Ilford Essex.

June 2008

Daphne J Godrfrey nee Clarke writes:

“We had our third reunion in Southampton and two people discovered they were evacuated to the same school. This has made me decide to try again to see if the brother and sister we were evacuated with have joined the ERA. We were evacuated to Brighton from Addiscombe, Croydon on 3rd September 1939 and I cannot remember the name of our school (such details were lost when our home was bombed), but I remember the head teacher was Miss Linnington. My friend was Eileen Lacey and her brother Brian Lacey, my name was then Daphne Clarke and my brother Cecil Clarke. We were billeted on a retired headmaster and headmistress who made us work very hard. Eileen and I had to do all the housework before we went to school and our two brothers had to clean the grate, chop the wood and lay the fire. The boys were only 7 years old!!! Eileen and I were 13 years old, but we were all still quite homesick. My father had died only two years before we were evacuated, so my poor mother must have felt very lonely. When my brother passed an entrance exam for Christ’s Hospital I begged my mother to let me come home, which she did, therefore I was in London for the Battle of Britain, but I preferred that to being away from my mother.

June 2008

Aileen Martinac nee Carver emailed from Australia:

My sister, Chris Purdie has told you about us being evacuated from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. What I wanted to tell you about is that I met a very nice, intelligent boy who was one year older than me – 7 years of age. We used to meet after school in a little area where there was a stream running through. One day he didn’t turn up and I later heard he had been taken home. I was rather shattered. I wrote a poem about him some years ago and this is it:- I wonder if he thinks of me in moments of reflection,And, in the quiet of that scene, does childish laughter fill his dream? I remember his gentle face, but sadly not his name. Perhaps, as time went by, he gained some well earned fame. Two young souls – the thought fills me with awe, In an oasis of tranquillity, amidst the tyranny of war.

June 2008

The following names of evacuees are in Talley school register.

The school would like to hear from you. Russell Brown, Michael & Dawn Boitoult, Barbara Burrow, Barbara Brown, Donald Burge, John Steel, Dilys Nicholas, Valerie Casey, Lilwen & Gwyneth Williams, Anthony Horton, Peter Boitoult, Eric Clark, Michael Boitloult, Ruth & Muriel Viner, Gwendoline Edwards, Rosemary Wilson, Dawn Boitoult, Phylis Clark, Hazel Horton, Russell & Barbara Brown, Barbara Burrow, Olaf Dalton, Pauline Lewis, Rose & Gertrude Clark, Lily Finch, Arthur Miller, Rosina & Jimmy Wicks, Dennis Miller, Alfred Finch, Brian Lewis, Gladys Kirner, Dennis Simmons, Iris Ward, Geatrice Ward, Pat Finch. If your name is on the list contact Jim Wright via the ERA office for more information.

June 2008