Description
Object description
British schoolchild evacuee with The Grey Coat Hospital School from London to Brighton, GB, 9/1939-12/1939; schoolchild in Croydon, GB, 12/1940-8/1940; evacuee in Wendover, GB, 8/1940; schoolchild evacuee with St Anne's Convent School at Hatchlands Park, GB, 9/1940-6/1942; schoolchild with St Anne's Convent School, Croydon, GB, 6/1942-7/1944; evacuee in Addington, GB, 8/1944; schoolchild evacuee with St Anne's Convent School in Dunblane, GB, 9/1944-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Croydon, GB: family; education; degree of awareness of possible war, 1938; father's employment at Croydon Airport; preparations for air raids; issue of gas masks; holidaying in Devon; construction of Anderson Shelter in garden; preparations for evacuation; blackout precautions; evacuation with sister from The Grey Coat Hospital School, Westminster, London to Brighton, 1/9/1939; journey on Brighton Belle train. Aspects of period as evacuee with The Grey Coat Hospital School in Brighton, GB, 9/1939-12/1939: allocation of billets; opinion of accommodation; visit to Brighton Pier; hearing radio broadcasts by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and King George VI; father's work with Special Branch at Croydon Airport; mother's social values.
REEL 2 Continues: allocation of billets; description of house and area; visits from mother; education; reason for returning home to Croydon, 12/1939; memories of Christmas, 25/12/1939; further details of evacuation and allocation of billets; cost of accommodation; opinion of host Mrs Winter; contact with other children; opinion of school and education; reaction of local residents to evacuees; question of suitability of Brighton as evacuee reception area; street games; social background of other evacuees.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as schoolchild with St Anne's Convent School in Croydon, GB, 1/1940-8/1940: watching firemen drilling; patriotism; awareness of progress of war; cinema newsreels; opinion of school and education; rationing; activities with Girl Guides for war effort; description of first German air raid; conditions in Anderson Shelter; air raid precautions; collecting shrapnel off roads; gas masks; question of evacuation to Australia. Aspects of period as evacuee in Wendover and with St Anne's Convent School at Hatchlands Park, GB, 8/1940-6/1942: evacuation to relatives in Wendover, 8/1942; move with St Anne's Convent School at Hatchlands Park; opinion of accommodation and education; reason for return to Croydon, 6/1942.
REEL 4 Continues: further details of convent school; opinion of nuns and standard of education; attitude towards Second World War; opinion of food; lack of access to radio or newspapers; religious education; shortage of text books and equipment; cost of accommodation; sporting activities; school curriculum; problem of obtaining sanitary towels; description of liberty bodice; school uniform and laundry; return to Croydon, 6/1942. Aspects of period as schoolchild with St Anne's Convent School in Croydon, GB, 6/1942-7/1944: description of home and blackout precautions; collecting debris from air raids; opinion of food at British Restaurants; recreational activities including watching aircraft at RAF Biggin Hill; salvaging war debris; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his speeches; attitude to wartime propaganda; identity cards; rationing.
REEL 5 Continues: receiving food parcels from Australia; menu at British Restaurants; shopping; use of father's allotment; clothing; blackout curtains; keeping rabbits to supplement rations; opinion of mother's cooking; Christmas presents and decorations; gas masks; attitude to German air raids; military preparations for D-Day, 1944; reaction to news of Normandy Landings, 6/1944; sight of first German V1 Flying Bomb, 7/1944; casualties; attitude to danger; barrage balloon. Aspects of period as evacuee in Addington, GB, 8/1944: evacuation to Addington, 8/1944; story of train hit by bomb; accommodation on farm; sight of glider crash at RAF Upper Heyford; relations between local residents and American servicemen; education; recreational activities; patriotism and ambition to join armed forces.
REEL 6 Continues: description of farm; Recollections of period as evacuee with St Anne's Convent School in Dunblane, GB, 9/1944-4/1945: evacuation with school to Dunblane; description of train journey; opinion of accommodation in hotel; relations with local inhabitants; story of operating film projector; opinion of education; reaction to war news; attitude to safety of parents; comparison of lifestyle in Dunblane and Croydon; shortages and utility goods; school uniform; working in uncle's butcher shop.
REEL 7 Continues: comparison of school life at St Anne's Convent School at Hatchlands Park and Dunblane including personal hygiene, illnesses, washing clothes, attitude to lack of information about war and food shortages; memories of VE Day celebrations in London, 8/5/1945; reaction to defeat of Prime Minister Winston Churchill in General Election, 7/1945; attitude to further education after war; relations with local inhabitants in Dunblane; social life; story of having hair permed; opinion of American servicemen; further details of period as evacuee in Addington, 8/1944; food; attitude to land girls of Women's Land Army; state of health; description of fog during blackout in London; reflections on experiences as evacuee; post-war life.
