Evacuation

On July 12th 1944, the day after my 8th birthday, my sister Maureen and I were evacuated from London to St Breward to live with Arthur and Ethel Hawken of Lower Lank. They were wonderful to us and cared for us with love and affection. We stayed for one year, returning to London and our family in 1945 when the war was over.
We went to St Breward School, which was quite a long walk for us, but in the springtime it was beautiful to see the primroses and daffodils blooming as we went on our way. We made many nice friends there, Bernard Skinner and Clifford Crowle being two I remember, and we enjoyed the nature walks we went on. In the holidays we helped 'Uncle Arthur' in his grocery shop and enjoyed helping 'Aunty Ethel' with her cooking. She was an amazing cook and we so enjoyed the Cornish pasties she made. The first time we ever saw the sea was when they took us to Perranporth and Newquay and it was such wonderful days. Our neighbours were Alec and Grace Masters and they had a daughter, Alison, who was younger than us and we enjoyed many happy times with them.
We kept in touch with Aunty and Uncle and visited them many times until their deaths. Whenever I see daffodils I always think of St Breward and the many happy times we spent there. My sister Eileen and brother Michael were evacuated near Bude.