Pam Cockerill

What do I remember of our evacuees? Well, let me think for a moment – it was a long time ago!

During the war years my parents, Douglas and Winifred Sanders, were living in a bungalow in Dundale Road, virtually opposite the entrance to Manor Road. It was one of two identical bungalows which my dad and his brother Harold had had built in the 1930s and the back gardens, which were not very deep, had been joined together to form a tennis court. Many happy hours had been spent there by my Mum and Dad and friends. But I digress…

My father’s friend, Arthur Mansfield, was a Billeting Officer, finding suitable homes for children who had been sent out of London when the bombing was at its height. We were asked if we would take a child; and I think my Mum said we would but preferably a girl about my age – I was 13 at the time – and so Jinny Barber came to live with us.

As I was at school in Berkhamsted, I am not sure where the evacuees went to school – probably integrated with the Tring schools as there would have been a wide age range. I can remember that our neighbours also had a girl evacuee, and a Mrs Gregory in Manor Road billetted a very pretty girl called Ora. A gang of us all went toboganning together in Tring Park during a very cold and snowy winter. Jinny’s mum came to see her occasionally so she didn’t feel too isolated from her family, and I vividly remember her mother knitting us pixie hats with enormous points – we loved them!

When the worst of the bombing was over, Jinny went back to London; she visited us once after the war but that was the end of our acquaintance.

At the same time we had two other evacuees, a Mr and Mrs Sam Causer. How they came to be with us I have no idea! There were now six of us living in our bungalow. I had given up my bedroom to Mr and Mrs Causer, Jinny had a small room that had been a general purpose room with a small divan in it, and I had a single bed in my parents’ bedroom, which was large enough to accommodate a double bed, a single bed, a wardrobe and a dressing table.

My Mum was an excellent cook and with Mrs Causer’s help served up many tasty and substantial meals; the six of us all ate together around a large table in the kitchen. We had a small allotment where Dad grew a good variety of vegetables, and we kept chickens, so we had a good supply of eggs. We didn’t have homogenised milk in those days, so Mum would skim off the cream (which rose to the top of the bottle) and shake it until it became butter, which helped out our small fat ration. There was no obesity then – we were all pretty healthy.

We didn’t have an air raid shelter so when the siren went, we all used to gather in the hall, which for some reason was considered the safest place. Mr and Mrs Causer were probably in their 60s, and he was the managing Director of The National Time Recorder Co. in Blackfriars. They lived – or should say had been living – in a very large house in Lewisham and Mr Causer would travel up to his company’s premises every day. They had a son who was an officer in the Army and he would visit occasionally. He was very good looking and we girls all had a crush on him, but he had a fiancée who, needless to say, we didn’t approve of! Their daughter Vera and son-in-law Bert Timberkake, with young son Anthony, were also billeted in Tring, with our friends Mr and Mrs Randall and daughter Jill who lived in Manor Road. Both these families returned to their Lewisham homes when the worst of the blitz was over. We visited the Causers once or twice but didn’t keep in touch for long, so that was the end of our relationship with our evacuees.

We, like many other families, accepted complete strangers into our homes and were glad to do so. I just pray to God the need never happens again.

Shared by Pam Cockerill