See the toys taken to England by Guernsey evacuees in June 1940

I  recently returned from a wonderful visit to Guernsey during their Liberation Week. Their Liberation Day is on the 9th of May and 2015 marks 70 years of Liberation from German occupation (and 75 years since the Evacuation of the island).

On Wednesday 7th May 2014 I organised a special Evacuation event in the Tourist Information Centre's gallery. We displayed some of the actual items that Guernsey’s evacuees took with them to England when they fled their island in June 1940.  The children were only supposed to take essential clothing with them on the evacuation ships, due to lack of space. However,  many managed to get a favourite toy into their small suitcase, bag, basket or pillowcase. The photograph below was taken in June 1940 as some of the Guernsey children, teachers and mothers arrived in England. It clearly shows how little they were able to carry

Photograph reproduced courtesy of the Bolton News (click to enlarge)

                                     
I was able to find a number of evacuees who still possess toys, and other items, which they took with them to England in June 1940.  Some of the evacuees live in Guernsey, others live in northern England (many did not return to Guernsey in 1945.)  These precious items were displayed at my Evacuee event, and Guernsey residents and visitors were invited to view them and to gently handle them.

(click to enlarge the photograph)

We had a large number of visitors, of all ages, including Guernsey residents and visitors to the island.   Children were encouraged to choose their favourite items and some were photographed with their chosen toy. Above are some of the items that were brought along on the day by evacuees:  a school cap and scarf, tiny evacuation suitcase, gas mask, 'Peter Pan' book, ration book, wooden toy soldiers, cigarette cards, wooden toy car, two dolls and a little dress. We also had a teddy bear, family photographs, another evacuation suitcase, a pencil case and evacuee's identity labels.

Some of the Guernsey Evacuees at the event, alongside my display of the Evacuation story

Mary Luxton with her teddy bear 'Nelson'

Julia Madden chose this doll

This child was rather unwilling to part with Joan Ozanne's wartime doll

                           

This little boy could not decide on an item for some time

Hazel Gould (nee Hall) with her 1940 suitcase

This boy chose a hand made wooden toy car

Joan Ozanne and John Helyer shared their wartime stories

 The children and their parents also had an opportunity to speak directly to the evacuees who had brought these precious items to the event.


I provided displays on the walls of the gallery which told the evacuation story in great detail. This included wartime photographs, newspaper articles, archive documents and Red Cross letters


Erica Ninnim (evacuated to Whitby during the war) could not attend the event but I visited her home, later, to photograph her with 81 year old toy rabbit Wilfie:

Erica with Wilfie (Wilfred) the 81 year old toy rabbit

More of the photographs that I took at my event will be uploaded onto http://www.guernseyliberationday.com  during May 2014.

You can find out more about the Guernsey Evacuees on my blog at:
http://guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com/evacuation/

I would be glad to receive your comments at the foot of this page, or via my Guernsey blog above.

My thanks to Guernsey's Liberation Committee for providing the event facilities at the Tourist Information Centre.

Today, Whaley Bridge's War Memorial was Re-Dedicated

Today, members of my family and many others from our village, of all ages, attended a service to re-dedicate our War Memorial in Whaley Bridge Memorial Park.

 The rain poured heavily throughout the service, but we heartily sang 'Onward Christian Soldiers' and 'Jerusalem'. The downpour ceased momentarily when The Last Post was sounded. It was a very emotional service for all.

THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF MOTHERS EVACUATED DURING WW2

Today I re-read the evacuation account of child evacuee Margaret Le Poidevin who arrived in Stockport, Cheshire, from Guernsey, with her mother, in June 1940.

I was starkly reminded of the plight of many of the Channel Island mothers who, when they were released from the Evacuee reception centres,  discovered that they were not allowed to rent property unless their husbands were in the Forces.

As a result, many of the mothers whose husbands were trapped in occupied Guernsey shared houses with Guernsey mothers whose husbands were in the Forces. In one Stockport house, four mothers, with two or more children each, were crammed into a four bedroomed house for several years.

Margaret Le Poidevin and her mother shared a home (an empty corner shop building) with Mrs Tippett and her children. Their home is shown below.

In addition, some mothers were told by local officials "You cannot possibly care for your children on your own, without your husband. You should consider letting them live with local families until the war ends." To mothers who had left their homes and possessions behind in Guernsey, this really was the last straw.They refused to hand their children over. They were all that they had left!

You can find out more about this evacuee ‘homesharing’ in my ‘Diary of an Evacuee’ page on my Guernsey Evacuation website:- http://guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com/diary-of-an-evacuee-jun-1940/

AN EXTRACT FROM THE WORLD WAR ONE DIARY OF THOMAS BESWICK

December 1914, in the trenches, France

It was Christmas and we were shouting across to the Germans, no firing that day. We were given whale oil to rub our feet to stop frost bite, then we got a week's rest as a battle was in the offing. We were not allowed to smoke or to make any noise, and lived on biscuit and bully beef, nobody was to know we were there. When we left there, we were put onto some big buses to go a long way. They were old buses open at the top and we expected them to turn over any minute, they came from London.

The next trenches were a lot better built and very close to the Germans – we could hear them talking. It was very safe as both sides were afraid of hitting their own soldiers. Up there were some locks and a river … the boys went bathing, it was ten feet deep. I could not swim and they threw me in, I never went near it again. There was nowhere to sleep and we made holes inside the trench bottom. After digging for two hours we made room for three to sleep in. Up came a boy and he jumped in, saying 'this is my place'. All the other lads jumped on top of him and it fell in. We were half an hour getting him out, he was almost gone.

             The Sherwood Forresters Military Band in Ashbourne, Derbyshire

Thomas Beswick was born in Flagg, Derbyshire in 1894.

This diary extract is reproduced courtesy of the Beswick family.

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

Easter event at Whaley Bridge Railway Station

Come along if you can, we are on the railway line between Manchester and Buxton.

MAN RECEIVES SALMON IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR TRENCHES!

Today I would like to share an item with you which I received from Bury Library in Lancashire (@BuryLibrary on twitter)

It is an extract from a letter received from a Burnley man who was serving in the First World War trenches. 

He had previously written home to ask for a piece of salmon to be sent to him.  The salmon arrived some weeks later and led to the writing of this letter. Enjoy!

TO CELEBRATE WORLD POETRY DAY - A WARTIME EVACUEE'S POEM

This poem was written by Joan Ozanne, a child evacuee who fled Guernsey to England in June 1940. When Germany invaded Guernsey a week later, Joan lived in London for five years, amongst the terrors of the Blitz. In Summer 1945 she returned to Guernsey where she still resides. I love the poem so much that I placed it at the front of my book 'Guernsey Evacuees':

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

You can read the first part of 'Guernsey Evacuees; The Forgotten Evacuees of the Second World War' for free at this Amazon link - just click on the book's cover:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guernsey-Evacuees-Gillian-Mawson/dp/0752470191/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345040949&sr=1-1

Update: June 2014: I am completing a book of 100 British evacuation stories, with wartime family photographs, to be published in September 2014 by Pen and Sword Books.  All of the evacuees featured spent all or part of the war on the British mainland.
To find out more and preview some of the stories and wartime photographs, see:  http://guernseyevacuees.wordpress.com/britains-evacuees/