Childrens Home

A Memory of Pinehurst.

My father came home from the war and my mother had been having an affair with an army friend of his and he was living with him so my father was ejected from the house. The council became involved and my two sisters went in to foster homes. I kept asking my mother when will I see them again and one day she said to me you will see your sisters today. We went to the magistrate court at Farnham where I met my sisters we waited out side the court. Eventually my mother came out with a lady and said to me you must go with this lady, I then twigged that it was my turn to go away so I would not get into the car and had one leg ether side of the door but as I was only seven I was not strong enough to resist and was pushed into the car. The lady took me to a children's home in Hindhead called Hill Garth. I was put into the playroom and left. I cried for two days. A girl called Iris Tilly comforted me and I eventually stopped crying. I ran away twice, the first time with two girls, we walked for fifteen miles. We were walking along in Aldershot when I saw the Matron walking towards us so I hid in a bookshop, the Matron got hold of the girls and asked them where I was and they said they did not know, as I had been with them she said they were going to get what for when they got back to the home so I came out and gave myself up as I didn't want them to get in to trouble for me. The home was closed because it needed decorating and I was sent to a girls' home in Godalming, I stayed there until the decorating was done then I went back to Hill Garth.