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Smiffys World War II Evacuee Girl Costume, Blue with Dress, Hat & Bag, Girls Fancy Dress, 1940s Dress Up Costumes

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A few days after the announcement of war Ronald McGill boarded his own train along with 500 other pupils from his school headed for Reading. The school had been preparing for evacuation for a few weeks and some schools had already started leaving the cities.

To smaller towns and villages in the countryside. Some children were sent to stay with relatives outside in the countryside, but others were sent to live with complete strangers. Billeting officers were responsible for helping to find homes for the evacuees. Householders in the country who billeted (housed) city children were given money by the government. When we lived at the castle it was very cold and we didn’t like it, after about six weeks we came home. My father John Parker was evacuated to Oxfordshire at the start of the war. Over the years I have heard about his sister (8) and himself then aged 10, clutching a little bag and their gas masks, standing on the station not knowing what was happening. Hundreds of children – after tearful goodbyes with their parents – were hurded into the trains to take them away for “safety”. They stopped at various places along the way, where people could come and choose who they wanted. Fortunately my Dad was taken by a childless couple called Mrs & Mrs Cross who lived and managed “Church Farm” in one of the smaller towns near Middle Barton. Sadly, they did not want any girls and so my Dad and his sister were separated. Being in the care of a farm manager – Mr Cross – my father was not encouraged to play games with the labour’s children, so he was mostly on his own until they enrolled him in the local school. There he came across his old childhood friend from London George Fage, although they were in different years at the school. As well as the huge logistical challenge for the government, towns, families, and volunteers, evacuation was an emotional upheaval, distressing for both children and parents. Evacuation was also entirely voluntary, so why did so many thousands so readily sign up before the war had even started?

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On Sunday September 3rd 1939 I was sitting on the settee with my Mam and Dad listening to the radio, the Prime Minister came on to tell us that England was at war with Germany. Now before this I had asked my Mam if I could be evacuated with our Olive who was 6½ years old and she said Yes, because it meant you went on holiday with your school friends and Teacher. John Wheeler: “But I honestly don't remember whether head nits, head lice was more than an initial problem. It certainly was a problem when they arrived because most of them were infected based. Cat and Bill Milcoy in the first weeks they were with us spent more time in the bath almost than they did in bed.” At last the train stopped and we all got out and got into coaches, which took us to a big hall, where we shouted our names out then you went to your teacher in the corner of the room. As we were all leaving we were given 2 carriers of food to give to the landlady whose house we were going to live in. Evacuation Don’t Do It, Mother, 1939-1945, Central Office of Information, catalogue reference INF 13/171 (3)

The children at Compton Primary School in Plymouth have written letters summing up perfectly how evacuees must have felt. The mass exodus of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to protect people – especially children – from aerial bombing, by moving them to areas thought to be less at risk. In the summer of 1939, more than 3 million children were evacuated from London and other cities in ‘Operation Pied Piper’, while most parents stayed behind to work and help out with the war effort. Alan Jeffreys: “One of the quite important legacies of evacuation and definitely goes on to affect government legislation even during the war but certainly in the Labour government after 1945 was that evacuation drew attention to the economic and social deprivation that really existed in inner cities in the 1930s, and this really came to the fore through evacuation.” Our school was 1½ miles away up a steep hill and sometimes this lady who had a three wheeler car used to give 6 of use a lift to school. We all used to wonder how the car got us all up the banks with all our weight. It was just a small village school and we had 2 classes in the hall. One class facing one way and the other facing the other way. Evacuation to Parents Important Notice1939-1945, Central Office of Information, catalogue reference INF 13/171 (4)Altogether we enjoyed our time being an evacuee and it was a lot of fun. It was all new living in a café and then a real castle, but loved our home best. Ronald McGill: “I just couldn't believe it! I just couldn't imagine the Germans in my house, it didn't make sense.” On a Sunday we used to get a lift to Church in the milk float pulled by horses who used to pass wind all the time and as I sat behind his bum I was nearly like a Chinese lady by time I reached the church.

In some instances, a child's upbringing in urban poverty was misinterpreted as parental neglect. On the other hand, some city dwellers were bored in the countryside or even used for tiring agricultural work. My father was kept pretty busy on the farm and was given various jobs to do, having never seen many animals in London he was pretty terrified of cows and pigs; hated working outdoors and would often scarp off with another evacuee and get into all sorts of trouble.

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Being an evacuee must have been scary and exciting at the same time. The children had to leave their families and homes behind and try to fit in with host families in the country. The fear of bombing, the closure of many urban schools, and the organised transportation of school groups helped persuade families to send their children away to live with strangers. There was also a propaganda campaign encouraging citizens to take part. At Christmas we went to a party at Mulgrave Castle that had a real Marchioness living there. She was a very old lady and when she had super, she had 12different foods and after every course there was a little bell rang.

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