The Francis Frith Collection.
You are here:

Evacuation During WW2

I was a student at the Norwood Technical Institute which was evacuated to Coles Hill House, Westmill. The house itself belonged to a military officer, and I guess it was taken over for evacuees. At the time I was there, there were 48 girls, a Head mistress, and I think about 4 teachers, a Matron and an Assistant Matron. Being during the war, we were all allocated our rations and the schooling consisted of our lessons, which were - cookery, our meals, housework, general upkeep of the house, gardening, growing vegetables, etc. We also kept chickens, rabbits and a goat (for milk) This experience was invaluable in later life as the staff were quite strict that everything should be done "properly". I understand that the N.T.A. is no longer in existence, now called South London College. I often think of those days and the companionship of the other students. Each year we used to host a Garden Party for the local residents, which was a lot of fun. The only physical sign of the war was when they phoned from the village to say that there was an air raid siren in progress. I have visited the house quite a few years ago, and the owners were very kind and let me roam through the house. It hadn't changed that much but it sure bought back memories of midnight feasts and other things that we managed to get up to. I still remember quite a few of the girl's names, but have not been in touch with anyone since leaving.

Written by Eileen Griss (nee Collier)e. To send Eileen Griss (nee Collier)e a private message, click here.

A memory of Westmill in Hertfordshire shared on Monday, 19th September 2011.

Memories Links

Other memories of

See more memories of Westmill

Westmill homepage

Add a Memory for another place

Tips & Ideas

How does Westmill feature in your personal history?

What are your best memories of Westmill?

How has Westmill changed over the years?

Share memories about your local community, its history and people.

Comments

0 comments have been shared so far in response to the memory "Evacuation During WW2 ".

Why not get involved and post your comments using the comment form below.

Post a Comment about this Memory

To post a comment about this Memory, complete the form below. Your comment will appear alongside the original Memory on the website. If you wish to send a private message (not published on the website) to the person that wrote the Memory, click here.

Subject: RE: Evacuation During WW2
You have to be logged in to be able to post a comment.
If you have a Frith account, then please log in below, if not, click here to create one.
Email:
Password:
Comment:
  Note: There is a 300-word limit - you have 300 words remaining.

© Copyright 1998-2012 Frith Content Inc. All rights reserved.