Evacuee

Hello Jack. By accident I have just stumbled across your comment. Eliza Tompkins was my Nan, Don and Anna my mum and dad. Nan was a very strong character who sadly died when I was 13. I often remember stories that she told me of her childhood in Grendon at Blackmile Lane. Your mum will have been very well looked after that’s for sure. Nan lost her son Phillip when he was 3 years old. Both he and my dad had pneumonia and it was dad, who was about 7, who was expected not to make it. When my brother was born in 1948 it would have helped fill a gap in nan’s heart. He is Leonard Phillip after nan’s Phillip Leonard. At the time your mum was there, nan’s husband would have been alive. I never met him as he died in 1947 from injuries sustained in the First World War. I wonder if your mum remembers Will? My dad, Don, stopped on in Italy after the war. He was injured in Cassino, then moved to Naples to an army base where he met mum. They married in 1947 in Italy but sadly while he was there his father died. My mum recalls how he wept when that news came through. They married in February and Will died in April. Mum had to wait until May until she was able to join dad in Bozeat. Your mum might well have known about their courtship and would have been around when dad was injured. Having lost one son it must have been an anxious time for Nan. My mum told me how well Nan looked after her when she arrived. The first thing she did was to buy mum vests from the co-op recognising that Naples and Bozeat kept very different winters! I never knew Nan had an evacuee. I still visit aunt Mary in Bozeat and I saw a picture of your mum on her mantel piece. Her carer, Eleanor, explained that she was an evacuee. I hope your mum is as well as possible and do say that Eliza’s granddaughter, Vanda, wishes her well. I don’t have mum and dad anymore sadly so it has been lovely to relive these memories. I’m proud to think that my family and Bozeat made your mum so welcome. Very best wishes Vanda Tompkins