Evacuation

A Memory of Feock.

In 1940 our family were living in Southend on Sea in Essex. My youngest brother was born in March 1940. Shortly after that the Battle of Britain began and children were being evacuated away from the town. I was at the time 6 years old. One day the fighting was right over our heads and a German bomber crashed about two hundred yards away. My father decided, as far as I know, that he would look after the family and one day, complete with the baby and a pram on the roof of the car, and my mother and my elder brother (who would have been 14), we set off on a trip I remember quite well. We set off to drive to Feock and travelled through the night. I remember seeing the flashes from Plymouth which was being bombed. We also stopped so my father could get some milk from some cows in a field

We arrived at Feock and went to a row of about 6 cottages which stood on the water's edge with no road, only a footpath. During a recent visit to my son in Helston we did drive through and found the cottages which face a creek. There was a field behind them which had a footpath leading to the village.

My memories are limited but I do remember going with (I believe) the son from the house with string and fish heads to catch crabs, and he also took me to see some large ships which were moored on the river. He told me they were being used as hospitals. From the front window you could look over the creek and see cows on the opposite bank and a farmhouse. The cottages were behind the church.

We only stayed a short time, as one day whilst walking across the field with the baby in the pram two planes suddenly appeared, a German plane being chased by a British fighter with guns firing. I think that terrified my mother and that was the last I remember of Feock, as soon after that we returned to a bungalow in Hutton in Essex. I have no memory of the return journey at all.

I have always wondered how we came to go to Feock, was it to stay with a distant relative or someone my father knew? My son has called there recently and spoken to someone living in the village but we cannot find any connection.

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