WW2 Evacuees from East Dulwich

[Colette Smith]

Does anyone know anyone living in or around East Dulwich, who was evacuated from London as a child during the second world war, who would be willing to come in to talk to a class of year 3 children about their experience? I work at Goose Green Primary School and my class are doing a topic on the war next term. Being able to talk to someone first hand about their experience would really bring the topic alive to the children.

[computedshorty]

Hi Collette.

Your message prompted me to look for old letters that I have, one is in fact a letter I wrote from my new home as an evacuee, as it was decided to get the three of us younger children away from London, we had already been in the house when a bomb dropped behind our back garden wall burying us in the house debris.

As the Vi Flying Bomb ( Doodle Bug ) had droped just fifteen houses away from our own house, Mum thought it was time we left for safety sake.

22.8.1944.

This V1 in Lordship Lane fell on the West side just South of the junction with Townley Road. One person was killed. It demolished 20 houses in Lordship lane and damaged 130 others in Lordship Lane, Beauval Road and Heber Road. The impact site is very clear to see particularly on the West side of Lordship Lane where the site is still partly populated with pre-fabs.

My own memories are still very vivid of that time, but I moved away from London in 1976 so I do not know of the present area or how it has changed in these 34 years.

It would not be possible for me to come to your school as I live so far distant now, but I could if you do not get an other offer write a peice about it as seen as a child all those years ago.

I left school aged fourteen. Heber Road School. Class grades in those days were Infants / Junior / Seniors.

What age are your intended pupils?

Regards Shorty.

[KidKruger]

Maybe you guys could get something going on Skype, or some other web-camming type of comms ?

If ComputedShorty has a webcam of course.

[Keef]

When I was a kid, we did a WW2 Project, and we went to a house on Crystal Palace Road (more or less opposite the Uplands, next to the Police building on the corner of Uplands), which had a WW2 bomb shelter at the back of the garden.

Might be worth knocking on a couple of doors to see if the person living there would let you bring a bunch of kids through their house. I remember it being a lovely old man, but this was some 20 years ago, so he may not still be with us, and the shelter could have been removed.

Worth a try though.

[GSJ57]

Our house in Rodwell Road still had the remains of the steps leading down to the Anderson Shelter in the back garden. This was in the mid sixties - my mum made a rock garden over it!

[computedshorty]

Did you Know?

There were public shelters in most towns, but many people built Anderson shelters in their gardens so that they had protection if they were unable to get to the public shelter. Anderson shelters were made out of corrugated iron and were very strong. A hole was dug in the garden, then the shelter was placed in the hole and it was covered with earth. An air-raid siren warned people when a raid was about to begin.

The government tried to confuse the German bombers by enforcing a 'blackout'. Street lamps were switched off, car headlights had to be covered and people had to hang black material in their windows at night so that house lights could not be seen. Going out at night could be dangerous during the blackout; cars crashed into each other and pedestrians, people walked into each other, fell off bridges or fell into ponds.

After May 1941, the bombing raids became less frequent as Hitler turned his attention to Russia. Nevertheless, the effects of the Blitz were devastating. 60,000 people lost their lives, 87,000 were seriously injured and 2 million homes were destroyed.

copyright Activities.

[Colette Smith]

Hi Shorty

I met a lady a few years ago who use the public shelter that was Stockwell tube station. I also found the remains of an Anderson shelter in my garden when I moved into the house 15 years ago. The previous occupants had tried to get rid of most of it though.

It must have been very hard to get around at night in the dark. Did people tend to stay at home more?

Can you remember rationing?

[cate]

Why don't you contact John Beazley who has written books on the history of Dulwich, Peckham and Nunhead. His books have contributions and photos from people who lived through the war.

[ratty]

There is a great story about my dad being evacuated with his older brother and sister. His sister, my auntie Joyce, decided that she had had enough of being away from her

mum and dad in the East End and travelled back. It took her most of the day and she took her little brother, my dad, with her. She got back to Stepney in the late afternoon and my grandad was furious. There was not enough time to send them back, so Grandad said they could stay, but the whole family must sleep on the Anderson Shelter for the night.

That night, whilst my dad, his sister and my nan and grandad were in the shelter, a german landmine parachuted down onto the opposite house, exploding and destroying nan and grandad's house. If my auntie had not decided to come home then nan and grandad would have been in the house and would certainly have been killed. As it was, they were buried in the shelter for a day or two, under the rubble of the house. My dad never told me this and died ten tears ago. My auntie relayed this story to me in Feb 09 at the funeral of the oldest brother. It's amazing to think my dad, nan, grandad and auntie went through this and moves me loads whenever I think of it. Must ge hundreds of stories like this from those days.

[????]

I've got a copy of my nan's diary from the doodlebugs, which she always said was worse than the original Blitz because of the droney noise and then waiting for an explosion, reading it now it is really clear that she was practically on the edge of a nervous breakdown. In the end she took my mum and her sister up to relatives in Liverpool. My grandad was also on the Woolwich Ferry when they got that School in Silvertown where loads were sheltering. They said 'only' 600 dead but people say it was far worse. F*ck me and we moan about a bit of inconvenience nowadays.

[Keef]

Chislehurst caves is well worth a visit, there was a whole community living in there.

[Keef]

Chislehurst Caves

"Schools & Groups Groups booking in advance can have their own private tour at a preferential rate. Ideal for School visits (the weather is no problem when you are underground), the Caves cover many aspects of the National Curriculum and special World War 2 tours are also available. Pre-booking is essential and minimum charges apply."

[jack]

My sister and me were evacuated to Coventry just before Coventry was itself bombed, My dad was in the Army but managed to get a message to my mum saying that if we were going to be bombed anywhere it might as well be in our own home so we were returned to Grenard road where guess what.,our house was bombed, and were then moved into a council requesitioned house in Marmora Rd where we stayed until 1957.

[PeckhamRose]

I can also recommend a book called World's End.

This is an area of Chelsea, slums and tenements, and the writer talks of his time as a kid there during the blitz and being evacuated. It is such a powerful book to read. If you can not find anyone, do read that book aloud to your kids. They will also realise that the things they do that may now earn them ASBOs were a matter of life and death and survival for kids in the war years!

As a side note - I once auditioned to play a character who goes to speak at a school (I did not get the role, not just because I was about 30 years too young!) who talks of her time in London in the war, and then she casually but unexpectedly starts talking about why we were fighting the war and her talk all turns a bit nasty and racist though she has no idea she's doing it; it's so ingrained in her. My Mum who is 83, is like this, too. When I left home she told me she didn't care who I brought home as long as he was not Japanese or German or black (which had nothing to do with anything but there you are...) The play, by the way, was based on a true story if I remember. So - and to get back to topic - be careful who you hire!!