Former WWII Evacuees - I would like to hear from you

[logiebaird]

My father was billeted in Sheffield as a result of the battle plan to evacuate troops from the coastal areas having been rescued from Dunkirk.

 

There was an anticipation at the time that an invasion would ensue.

 

From what i am told - Govt officials were identifying housing with vacant rooms for the returning soldiers though i have no idea why Sheffield would be designated for military evacuees.

 

Twas in those billets (lodgings) at 98 Raisen Hall Road was where he met and married the girl next door before returning to the continent via Normandy to thank Hitler personally for chasing him up to Sheffield. (His origins are in Wales and his regiment was KSLI)

 

There may be archive material from council rent records or M O D payments to the landlady name of Mrs Ford.

[NorthMonkey]

Hi everyone

 

Well the time has now come for me to finish writing my dissertation. Basically I was hoping that everyone who has contributed to this thread with their memories would be happy to let me use their memories in my writing. It would be a great help.

 

If you are happy with me using your testimony, please contact me either by private message on here or feel free to email me through here letting me know and giving your name. I have found a lot of research and testimony which links into a lot of the things here and it would be great if I had your permission to use them. I WONT USE ANYTHING THAT HAS NOT HAD YOUR PERMISSION FOR ME TO DO SO.

 

Everything that I do use will not be published, it will simply be part of a University dissertation which will be internally assessed. Privacy will be maintained as it is on here and I would only reference your name and no other details whatsoever.

 

This would be a huge help, but even if you are not comfortable with me writing down your memories, thankyou anyway for sharing your experiences. It has helped me understand the events of the time considerably.

 

Ciaran

[Puffin4]

Hi NorthMonkey,

 

I have read such postings as are on your thread with interest. They seem to be from people who were evacuated away from Sheffield.

 

I attended Woodthorpe School from about 1943 onwards and I have recollections of several pupils from London and the Home Counties who were evacuees. I have no knowledge of what became of them but would be delighted if they turned up on here. Presumably Sheffield was seen as a safer location than the south.

 

Regards M

[NorthMonkey]

I have written part of a chapter on the fact that people were evacuated INTO Sheffield which struck me as weird as first.

 

A lot of children from London and the Home Counties were actually officially evacuated north around 1944 as the v1's became a bit of a threat. Before this there had been a few instances of parents sending their children here privately with the treat of invasion in 1940, and a lot of the time they arrived just before the blitz here!

[lazyherbert]

Hello Northmonkey. We were all evacuated to a place called Southwell in Nottinghamshire.I was too young to remember it but some of the tales my family have told me it must have been just as bad for the people who took the evacuees in as it was for the evacuees.Some of the scrape they inflicted on the host were a little naughty to say the least.Having said that some of the host had a lot to answer for.

[NorthMonkey]

I didn't find many testimonies where the evacuees were ill treated by the host families, despite knowing that there was a lot of ill treatment out there. I assume it is because people who had bad experiences there did not want to share them.

[ocean]

Hello,

My mother, (now deceased), was evacuated INTO Sheffield from Surrey in 1939, aged 6 years old. She stayed for two years with a lady called Mrs White, who my mother called 'Auntie White'. We have no more information about this and are very keen to find out anything else that could help to fill in these missing years of my mothers life. Mrs White it seemed was very kind to my mother.

My mother hardly ever spoke of this time and we would love to find out anything that could be helpful.

If anyone reads this post and has any information that could be relevant to this time, please make contact.

Thank you