Description
Object description
British evacuee from Vauxhall, London to Reading, GB, 9/1939-10/1939; schoolchild in Vauxhall, London, GB, 10/1939-5/1941; evacuee from Vauxhall, London to Reading, GB, 5/1941-5/1943; schoolchild in Putney, London, GB, 5/1943-7/1944; evacuee from Putney, London to Squire's Gate, Blackpool, GB, 7/1944-9/1944; telegram boy with General Post Office in Hammersmith, London, GB, 11/1944-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Vauxhall, London, GB, 1930-1939: character of family home; father's employment and service in First World War; mother's employment; recreational activities; removal to Broadstairs during diphtheria outbreak, 1938; expectation of coming war, 1938-1939; reaction of parents and local population to prospect of German air and gas attacks. Recollections of period as evacuee from Vauxhall, London to Reading, GB, 9/1939-10/1939: attitude of children towards evacuation; preparations for evacuation; attitude of parents towards evacuation; clothing and toys taken; leaving by train; question of duration of evacuation; contact with home using letter cards; change in relationship with sister on evacuation; assembling for evacuation and boarding train at Waterloo Railway Station.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of teachers accompanying evacuees; his parent's reaction their children being evacuated; arrival in Reading; reaction to being chosen by foster parents; foster family's circumstances; accommodation in attic room; lack of contact with foster family; activities; contact with parents; problems settling into foster home; food; problems with evacuee clothing; infestation of lice at school; mixing with evacuees from other schools in London; relations with foster parents; awareness of war situation; parent's visit; return to family home, 10/1939; degree of knowledge of aircraft; attitude towards return to London, 10/1939.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as schoolchild in Vauxhall, London, GB, 10/1939-5/1941: lack of schooling on return; re-opening of schools on return of evacuees by summer 1940; use of Vauxhall Underground Station during German Air Force attacks; loss of classmates; bombing of family home, 5/1941; reaction to sight of mass formation of German aircraft, 7/9/1940; question of psychological strain on parents of German bombing; sight of City of London burning, 12/1940; lack of realisation of loss of school friends. Aspects of period as evacuee from Vauxhall, London to Reading, GB, 5/1941-5/1943: evacuation with family; character of accommodation in council house; joining local school; watching aircraft and other activities; relations between evacuees from London and population of Reading.
REEL 4 Continues: sharing house space with family; father's interest in his children's education; relations with family and sharing facilities; evacuees use of Grenadier Arms; how communities mixed; return to London. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Putney, London, GB, 5/1943-7/1943: move to Putney; education; reaction to start of German V1 Flying Bomb campaign, 6/1944-7/1944. Aspects of period as evacuee from Putney, London to Squire's Gate, Blackpool, GB, 7/1944-9/1944: accommodation in Squire's Gate; story of witnessing destruction of aunt's house in V1 Flying Bomb attack, 7/1944; return to Putney, 9/1944; prior recollection of membership of Boy Scouts and visit to Canadian armoured unit, 5/1944. Aspects of period as telegraph boy with General Post Office in Hammersmith, London, GB, 10/1944-5/1945: background to obtaining employment with General Post Office, 11/1944.
REEL 5 Continues: proximity to first German V2 Rocket; delivering telegram notifying of deaths of servicemen; importance of getting neighbours to be present on delivering telegrams notifying deaths; working conditions; amusing story of placing sardine in pressurised message pipe at post office; memories of VE Day outside Buckingham Palace, 8/5/1945; reaction to end of Second World War. Reflections on wartime evacuations: question of whether he would allow own children to be evacuated; skills and lessons learnt from evacuation.