Evacuee Memories - Part 1

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1 25 April 2012 Accessibility help Text only This document is a snapshot of content from a discontinued BBC website, originally published between It has been made available for archival & research purposes only. Please see the foot of this document for Archive Terms of Use. BBC Homepage Wales Home BBC Local Mid Wales Things to do People & Places Nature & Outdoors History Religion & Ethics Arts & Culture Music TV & Radio Local BBC Sites News Sport Weather Travel Neighbouring Sites North East Wales North West Wales South East Wales South West Wales Related BBC Sites Wales Cymru Canolbarth Evacuee Memories - Part 1 Last updated: 01 November 2007 Bernard Allen was 8 years old and living in Birmingham when he was told to go home and pack for Builth Wells. In November 2007 Bernard told us about his years as an evacuee during World War II and his more recent return. Part 2 of Bernard's story... "It was summer I was 8 years old and living in Birmingham - a large industrialised city. Everybody was talking about war, whatever that meant. The way the adults talked, it certainly wasn't good. Apparently it was something to do with Germany, and the only thing I knew about that place was that most toys were marked "made in Germany"! Everybody was being issued with gas masks - horrible smelly things made of rubber, which you put over your head and covered your face so that you could hardly breathe. In fact, if you put your hand over the holes in the front you couldn't - we did this to test of any air could get in through the sides! There were special "Mickey Mouse" style masks for the very young children, and the big ones which you could put a baby completely inside. All these were in case the Germans dropped things full of gas on us from planes flying over, this it seemed was "mustard gas". more from this section Builth Wells Arctic Voice Builth By Numbers Builth Photographs Builth Wells Dance Festival Builth Wells High School photo tour Census 2001 Country Views Evacuee Memories - Part 1 Gardening Club Greener Homes Heritage Society Hundred House Love At First Sight Mid Powys Youth Theatre Music on the Meadow My Town Our Patch Photographic Club Spring Marathon 2007 Useful Info All the young men were being called up to serve in the Army, Navy, and the Royal Air Force. Sand bags were piled up around door ways of important buildings, such as the council and government offices. People were given identity cards with a number which showed where you came from, and how many were in the family. There were also ration books. One each, as all food was to be rationed, including such things as oranges and bananas - which once the war started were a very rare sight - but worst of all, even sweets and chocolate were rationed! Preparations were also underway for all children under a certain age, usually fourteen years, to be evacuated from the big cities which were most likely to be bombed, to the country, and to the outskirts of towns, which were comparatively safe. Whole schools were packing in preparation to leave. My name was down to leave with my school too, something I remember not relishing at all. Eventually, the schools started to move out. I had got around my mother and persuaded her to let me stay and I went up with a couple of pals who were also not going, to watch them

2 leave, along with the teachers. The schools would be closed. All those children boarding the coaches had their little cases, or carrier bags, and a label with their name and the name of their school tied to their coats, and off they went to the railway station. With all the children leaving and the men going into the forces the town seemed very quiet and almost deserted. Very few people had cars in those days - even in the cities. Bread, milk and coal were all delivered by horse and cart! My new found freedom was not to last for long. The lady who lived next door to us was Welsh and came from Builth Wells. Her family still lived there and quite often came to stay for a holiday - especially their elder daughter, who was the same age as my elder brother. They often played together when she was there. By chance she was there at the end of August 1939 and was due to go back to Builth Wells, very soon. On the afternoon of September 1st I was playing in the street outside my aunts' when my brother came to fetch me. He said I was to go home to pack. My parents and the lady next door had decided I would go with her niece back to Builth Wells the following day. So, on the morning of September 2nd 1939, Grace and I caught the bus from Birmingham to Llandrindod Wells, where we caught the local bus to Builth Wells. The following morning, at eleven o'clock Sunday 3rd September, we heard Mr Chamberlain say on the wireless "this country is now at war with Germany". Holidays had been rare event for me as a child. They consisted mostly of a day trip on a coach, or charabanc, as well called them in those days. So when I woke up on that first morning in Builth Wells to the sounds of birds, it was a shock to see out of my bedroom window nothing but hills all around, instead of roofs and back yards. One thing that stood out, in particular, was the site of Builth Wells Castle, where I was to spend a lot of my time playing and exploring In spite of the inevitable homesickness, I soon made friends of my own age. Before long, I knew Builth Wells almost as well as any of them. We would cover many miles across fields and climb hills. There was less restraint in the country, so most of our forays around were without supervision, other than being told not to go by the river. Although, there was a place up the Groe where, when the river was low, we could wade across to the other side. Apart from the eldest daughter of the family who had brought me to Builth Wells, there was another daughter, who was three years older than me, and

3 quite a tomboy! Her word was law and woe betide anyone who went against her. She was quite big, and always took the lead in whatever we did, and nobody argues with her. On the other hand she was fiercely protective of anyone in her gang! The lady of the house "Auntie Gladys" was fairly strict and one did what one was told without question. But her husband, "Uncle Mac". always stood up for me saying "leave the lad alone". One of my many jobs was to take the little hand cart to the farm to fetch manure for his allotment where occasionally I was allowed to help out. Another of my jobs was to collect logs for the fire and I would travel quite a distance with my little hand cart to places where driftwood or broken trees provided the necessary wood." Part 2 of Bernard's story... More stories of World War II from Mid Wales...

4 25 April 2012 Accessibility help Text only BBC Homepage Wales Home BBC Local Mid Wales Things to do People & Places Nature & Outdoors History Religion & Ethics Arts & Culture Music TV & Radio Local BBC Sites News Sport Weather Travel Neighbouring Sites North East Wales North West Wales South East Wales South West Wales Related BBC Sites Wales Cymru Canolbarth Evacuee Memories - Part 2 Last updated: 02 November 2007 Bernard Allen was 8 years old and living in Birmingham when he was told to go home and pack for Builth Wells. This is Part 2 of Bernard's memories of being an evacuee in Builth during the war. Part 1 of Bernard's story... "I remember one year planting potatoes (and later picking them) on the side of Garth Hill - a small hill just outside the town. Most of the available women and children were there. We also helped plant and pick potatoes at Samuel's farm on the Brecon Road. As children we spent a lot of time up Garth Hill playing among the trees and the long ferns. On the way back we would stop at Rowland's Farm to watch the milking and have a drink of milk straight from the cow, something you would not be allowed to do now. It was quite a short walk to Garth Hill from Tanhouse, across three fields to the bottom of the hill. A housing estate now occupies one of the fields, the one where we used to go sledging in the deep snow. more from this section Builth Wells Arctic Voice Builth By Numbers Builth Photographs Builth Wells Dance Festival Builth Wells High School photo tour Census 2001 Country Views Evacuee Memories - Part 1 Gardening Club Greener Homes Heritage Society Hundred House Love At First Sight Mid Powys Youth Theatre Music on the Meadow My Town Our Patch Photographic Club Spring Marathon 2007 Useful Info Sometimes the snow was too deep for the children from outlying farms to get to school, so the school would shut for the day. One winter the snow was so deep we were able to build igloos in the field. I was the only boy from Birmingham - so I soon became classed as a local! Later on a crowd of evacuees came from Liverpool. When they arrived they were taken to the local primary school with their luggage, and labels, where people came along and chose who they wanted to have as boarders. I felt sorry for those who were left until last. We had two at the house where I was and there were so many Liverpool evacuees the school couldn't cope with us all so we locals attended in the morning and the children from Liverpool went in the afternoon. But that situation didn't last long as many returned home quite soon. Most of the new influx were Catholic which created a problem as there was no Catholic Church in Builth Wells. So arrangements were made to hold Mass and confessions in a room over a Temperance Hotel in the High Street.

5 I progressed well under most of my teachers, like Miss Morris, Miss Cheyne, and Miss Jones. But there was one teacher, Miss Evans, under whom I could do nothing right, and I was forever being sent to the headmaster's study for the cane. Two on one hand and one on the other! I think she must have been a Welsh Nationalist, she certainly didn't like me! When I was nine years old I had a paper round at the little newsagents down the bottom end of town. Part of my job was to meet the early morning mail train and collect the daily papers to take to the shop, where they were sorted out for my first morning round before going to school, and then for another round I did either at lunchtime or after school. At times I helped out around the shop too. I enjoyed this part of the job because I was able to handle the books and comics and even read them sometimes. Monday in Builth was market day, when all the sheep and cattle were brought in for sale. Farmers brought their wives in by pony and trap to do their shopping, much of it at the market hall, which was part of the building where the newsagents was. Another of my jobs was to clean up the market hall on Tuesday. Some time later I left the little newsagents and went to WH Smith, where again I did a paper round. This time, after meeting the train to collect the papers, I had to deliver some on the way back to the shop. I also had to meet the evening mail train to collect the evening papers from South Wales, and then deliver them. I later had a Saturday morning job at the fruiterers, delivering orders. All this, by the time I was eleven years old. My parents came occasionally to visit but it was kept a secret until a few hours before they were due to arrive. I suppose it was a little unsettling, but I soon settled down again, after they had gone back. Even my older brother came once, with a friend. Both were to die later in the Royal Air Force over Germany. My brother was only twenty two years of age and was a Sergeant Rear Gunner in a Lancaster Bomber. We did not see much of the war in Builth Wells, only in the newspapers and on the wireless. Whenever there was mention of Birmingham and the air raids it was an anxious

6 time, until I heard from my parents to say they were safe. There were times when the air raid siren would sound in Builth Wells but only for practice, and occasionally we would leave school wearing our gas masks with orders to go straight home to see how long it took us! The only real reminder of the war was one night when a German bomber crashed into a hill in Aberedw - which we could see from the back window of the house - and the ensuing fire. The following day we hung around the local police station in the hope of seeing the German crew when they were taken to the railway station an on to a prisoner of war camp. By the late summer of 1942 the bombing of Birmingham had greatly reduced and it was decided I could go home, of which I was glad, but with mixed feelings. Builth Wells had made a big impact on my life so much later I cycled down there with a friend when I was sixteen years of age! When I later married, I brought my wife here on honeymoon, and we have spent many happy holidays here, with and without our two daughters. When I retired my ambition was to get away from the hectic life of the city and fulfil the dream of a life time and move to Builth Wells. My wife, who had come to know and love Builth Wells, as much as I, was of a like mind. So now, we have our home here, and wonderful views all around and we can enjoy the walks and explore the areas I got to know as an evacuee all those years ago in a town that has grown, but which has not really changed all that much." Article by Bernard Allen Part 1 of Bernard's story... More stories of World War II from Mid Wales... your comments Helen Foat Liverpool I found Bernards story fascinating as my mum and her brother were evacuated from liverpool to Builth Wells. We holidayed once there when I was a child. I am thinking of visiting again. My mum also had very happy memories of Bulith Wells. Sady she has died. We sent Christimas cards every year to Mr & Mrs Morgan who she stayed with. Am trying to remember the road they lived in.