HOW CANADA HELPED BRITISH EVACUEES DURING WW2

Interviews with Second World War evacuees, together with surviving wartime records, show there were certain individuals and organisations that made a huge difference to the lives of these penniless evacuees, not just financially, but also emotionally. Amongst these were the Canadian Channel Islander Societies who helped thousands of British evacuees.

When news of the Channel Islands evacuation and occupation reached Channel Islanders who were living in the Vancouver area of Canada, a sense of shock swept through the community. They quickly realised that the evacuees, who had been sent to the British mainland, would need clothing, shoes, cash and medical supplies. The Channel Islands – Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Herm and Sark are 70 miles away from England but around 30 miles from the French coast.

In June 1940, 17,000 children and adults left Guernsey, arriving in England with just the clothes on their backs. Whole schools were evacuated with their teachers, and some reopened in England during the war as 'Guernsey schools' so that the evacuated teachers and pupils could remain together. One school was financially supported by Americans, with one child being sponsored by the President's wife, Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt. The only communication between England and Guernsey was through 25 word Red Cross letters.

Interviews with the evacuees, together with surviving wartime records, show there were certain individuals and organisations that made a huge difference to the lives of these penniless evacuees, not just financially, but also emotionally. Amongst these were the Canadian Channel Islander's Societies. When news of the Channel Islands evacuation and occupation reached the 500 Channel Islanders living in the Vancouver area, a sense of shock swept through the community. They quickly realised that the evacuees would need clothing, shoes, cash and medical supplies, and a writer, Philippe William Luce, formed the Vancouver Channel Islanders Society. 

A handful of their newsletters have survived, and the society noted at one meeting,

"Thousands of old folks, women and children urgently

need help, and every dollar counts. It costs about $1000 a

week for shoe repairs and dental attention alone. Every

letter from the kiddies to their parents in the Islands costs one shilling and families building homes in England need stoves, furniture, bedding etc.ⁱ

The society's newsletters give details of the fund raising efforts they made. They sold Christmas cards and Jersey seed potatoes, and held raffles – with one prize being a prize Jersey calf which raised $3,000. Local people donated clothing, shoes, socks, quilts and books to the society, which were sent to Victory Hall, 535 Homer Street, Vancouver, for packaging on Thursday afternoons. The society organised lunches for which admission was $25 per person, together with musical evenings, concerts, film shows and picnics. 

In October 1941 the Vancouver Lion's Club donated all the proceeds of its annual charity concert to the society, which featured an appearance by Lansing Hatfield, a star of the New York Opera. By February 1942, the Vancouver society had sent $3,254 to London for the evacuees together with 119 crates of clothing, and letters of thanks began to arrive from Channel Island evacuees in England,

"More and more letters of thanks are coming from the recipients;

some exceedingly touching scribblings from little children."

Some of the Canadians who donated clothing to the society placed little notes in the pockets of coats and jackets. A Guernsey evacuee at the Forest School in Cheshire found the following note in the pocket of his coat,

"To the little boy who receives this parcel. Please write to me

at the above address and let me know how you like it. May

God Bless you, and keep you safe from harm. Sincerely yours,

Mrs C J Collett."

Insert here: Image of note from Canada

Another society was established in Victoria,Vancouver Island, containing around 100 members. At their first meeting in August 1941, the committee decided to arrange a Channel Islands Arts and Crafts event, to arouse interest in the islands, and between 1941 and 1945, the Victoria society raised $4,992 for the evacuees. They used the Women's Institute rooms on Fort Street for the collection and packaging of clothing, before sending the crates to the Vancouver society, or directly to London.⁴

It is not known exactly how many more Channel Islanders in Canada carried out this wonderful work, but their efforts clearly went a long way in helping hundreds of unfortunate evacuees in England who had been torn from their homes.

If anyone in Canada can help provide me with more information about the Canadian Channel Islanders societies, I would love to hear from you. I would also love to contact the family of Mrs C J Collett, from Vancouver, whose note is displayed in this article.

Please contact me by email at: whaleybridgewriter@gmail.com

All of my history books can be viewed here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gillian-Mawson/e/B008MWQ0IE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_

Sources:

i  Vancouver Channel Islanders Society Minutes, February 1942 (found in Mr P Martel's diary)

4The Daily Colonist, Channel Islanders in Victoria, 3 May 1979, p.4

A POEM OF EVACUATION

I thought that readers may wish to see this poem, written by an evacuee, Joan Ozanne.

It describes her feelings on the day that she left her home in Guernsey in June 1940, to
be evacuated to England.  She did not return home for five years.



My childhood was left inside.
when I closed my bedroom door.
In the hall, distraught, father waits, mother weeps.
The dog unaware, wags his tail
and licks the tears from my face.

Reluctantly we speed to the harbour.
The smell of tobacco smoke on
father’s jacket will remain with me.
On the ship we say goodbye, perhaps forever.
I feel empty like a shell


(c) Joan Ozanne


Find out more about the Guernsey evacuation here:
http://guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com/evacuation/

How my Grandmother risked her life in the dockyards during World War Two

A few years ago my Mum told me about her mother, Petrina McAndrew, and her wartime work. Petrina was born in 1911 and when war was declared, she was living close to Rosyth dockyard, across the river from Edinburgh. The dockyard was quickly brought up to full strength and Petrina, along with many other local women, began work as a riveter alongside the male workers. She was taught to pass red hot rivets to the male welders who were repairing war damaged ships. Rosyth dockyard and the Forth Bridge were considered prime German targets, so when war broke out, the government ordered children from the surrounding community to be evacuated. Less than half of the children were evacuated at that time, and Petrina was one of those mothers who refused to send her children – Margaret aged five and Jean aged three – away. A visit to Rosyth by Winston Churchill in 1940 underlined Rosyth's importance to the war effort.

Each day was fraught with danger, and Petrina's journey to work was dangerous too, as she travelled there early in the morning along unlit, icy roads. Initially there was hostility from some of her male colleagues, but once they saw that Petrina could pull her weight, things became more tolerable and she made some good friends. She was frequently subject to pranks from her friends in the dockyard and also from the crews of the ships and submarines that docked there. Further bombings took place around Rosyth in 1940 and at that point,

Petrina sent her two girls to stay with her sisters in Wolverhampton, believing it to be less of a target. But that is another story! Sadly Petrina died at the age of 48 in a moped accident when I was only two years old. Just the week before she died, she had sent me a lovely little coat to wear. I am keen to keep her memory alive as I am immensely proud of the arduous and difficult work that she undertook during the war. 

I recently discovered this photograph of my Grandmother, Petrina, with my Mum, Jean. It is so lovely I thought I would add it to this blog post.

NOTE You can view my books on Wartime Britain here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gillian-Mawson/e/B008MWQ0IE/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

MY NEW WARTIME BLOG CAN NOW BE FOUND AT 
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