Carrog Memory, as A WW2 Evacuee.

River Dee c1955
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I first visited Carrog in 1939 as an evacuee, at the start of World War 2. I was accompanied by my two sisters, having travelled by train from Birkenhead on the Wirral. All the evacuees were escorted to the Church Hall where we waited to be "claimed" by our new guardians. We were taken to a house called Dewis Dydden, by the bridge, in the care of Mrs Jones. As children, we were pleased to see that part of the house was the village sweet shop!
As there was not enough room in the School for us all, we were given the use of the Church Hall for our lessons, different age groups together in the one room.

Part of the ground in front of Dewis Dydden was a sloping area leading down to the river, where there were two pig-sties and a small hen-pen. It became my job to look after the pigs and hens. One part of the job was to set traps to catch rats in the pigsties. when I caught a few word got round the local lads who would turn up with their dogs. I would set the traps high up the slope, then when the lads were ready I would quickly open the trap doors to release the rats, and the dogs were released to try to catch and kill the rats before they reached the water! The lads rewarded me with a few coppers to purchase sweets for us!

To help the war effort, the evacuees collected grass seeds to give to the farmers. Also we filled sand bags from part of the river bank for the Home Guard.
I stayed at Carrog for about 3 years, and was very happy and well looked after.

Also billeted at Dewis Dydden at the same time was a retired Sea Captain, called Captain Walker, who spent a great deal of time fishing for salmon in the river. He was the only angler I ever saw during my time there, and I spent many happy hours playing in the river!
The picture above, although very dark, shows an angler fly fishing. This makes me wonder if this angler is the same Captain Walker? He once caught a salmon so big that he hung it alongside my youngest sister so as to illustrate its length. It was 'taller' than my sister who would have been six years old at that time!